Troubles and Triumphs
by CBM-1701
Summary: After the Invasion of Pein, Naruto struggles with Hinata's confession of her feelings for him while Sakura struggles with her own feelings for Naruto  though she doesn't know that's what her problem is yet . Better summary inside.
1. Naruto's Dilemma

Troubles and Triumphs

A NaruHina FanFic

**Background/Summary:** Following the invasion of Pein, the reconstruction of Konoha begins. Naruto is ordered by Shizune (who is put in charge of the hospital while Tsunade remains in a coma) to spend a day or two in the hospital to regain his energy and to see if there were any adverse effects of transforming into the Kyūbi completely. A certain Hyuga kunoichi learns of this and goes to visit him in the hospital. How will Naruto react to Hinata's confession? This is where the story begins.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!**

Key:

"Speech"

**"Kyūbi and other large beings"**

_Thought_

"Normal Speech _Emphasis on a word _Normal Speech_"_

A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, please go easy on me. I'll accept any friendly advice you're willing to give to help make this story better. Thanks in advance!

**WARNING: THIS FANFIC IS RATED M FOR A REASON! THERE WILL BE BLOOD, GUTS, SEXUAL CONTENT, ETC. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

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><p>Ch 1: Naruto's Dilemma<p>

"What? Why do I gotta stay in the hospital Shizune nee-san? I'm fine!" Naruto adamantly protested Shizune's order to remain in the hospital for the night. Naruto never liked the hospital. He thought they were depressing, creepy, and boring.

"Because, you expended a lot of energy trying to stop Pein. Not to mention you completely transformed into the Kyūbi! We have to know if there are going to be any side effects to that." Shizune said with some authority, but then quickly shifted her tone. "Besides…Tsunade-sama would want you to take it easy for a day or so."

"Oh…" Naruto lowered his head in sadness. "Alright, I will stay."

"Great. I'll have the room prepared for you. Here's the room number." She handed him a piece of paper with the number "_1701_" written on it. "There's a few others that will be staying at the hospital that won't be able to leave there beds for a few days, please be sure to visit them while you're there." Shizune tried to sound upbeat to not worry Naruto. She knew that Tsunade might never wake up, only time would tell.

"Alright, I can do that. I'll be there in a half hour." Naruto began to run towards his house when he lost his balance and fell over. "Uh… maybe I do need to take a rest. How long will it take to get back to normal?" Naruto tried to laugh it off.

"At least a day for you. The Kyūbi should help to restore your energy faster than most." Shizune couldn't help but laugh at Naruto.

"Ok…" Naruto thought about his father resealing the Kyūbi. He hoped that the seal would hold; he didn't want to lose control again and risk hurting or killing any of his friends. "I'll be at the hospital soon."

"Ok," Shizune said responded. "Kakashi-san will be at the hospital resting for a few days anyway so whenever you're ready to talk we'll be there."

"Great, thanks. See you later!" Naruto said as he once again took off for his temporary home.

The village was all but destroyed when he was in Kyūbi mode. Most of his belongings were destroyed when his apartment was destroyed during the invasion. But his iPod, a few pictures, and a few ninja outfits managed to somehow survive the destruction.

As he ran, he saw construction workers, engeneers, and fellow shinobi working hard to rebuild the village. Yamato had taken upon himself to build temporary shelters for every ninja in the village, also managing to completely rebuild the hospital in just under an hour, meaning all the injured ninja and civilians now had a more appropriate place to recover.

When he arrived at his temporary home, Naruto grabbed his iPod so he could keep himself entertained while in the hospital. He stopped to look at all the pictures in his temporary home. He had pictures of his team when they were younger, him and Iruka, him at Ichiraku's after eating a record amount of bowls of ramen, and a group picture of the Konoha 12 with all the sensei's.

He took a closer look at that picture. Kakashi was standing behind Sasuke with Naruto on Sasuke's right and Sakura on Sasuke's left. He noticed how happy everyone on Team 7 looked happy, even the usually stone-faced Sasuke was smiling slightly. Then Naruto noticed who was standing to his right and his heart skipped a beat.

Hinata stood with her arms in front of her chest with a shy smile and a slight blush on her face. She was looking at the camera, but from the picture Naruto knew of whom she was thinking about: him.

_Hinata… how did this happen? When did you start liking me? Let alone LOVING me? No other girl ever gave me the time of day. I mean, yeah they all think of me as a friend now. But back then, they all hated me cause I messed with Sasuke all the time. Why you? And why me for that matter? _Naruto thought to himself as he stared at the photograph. He didn't understand it.

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it for the moment. "No time to think now, I gotta get to the hospital before some ANBU come looking for me."

He ran most of the way back to the hospital. On the way he surveyed the damage his fight with Pein had caused. It was extensive to say the least. Most of the village was completely destroyed. Everything that wasn't, was damaged to the point of being unsalvageable. Yamato was helping as best he could to help rebuild buildings, using his Kekkei Genkai to produce enough wood rebuild the hospital and set up temporary shelters. Chunin and Jonin around the village were doing their best to help with the wounded and help with the repairs.

Naruto skidded to a stop. In front of him was the Hyūga estate. It was on the way to the hospital, but he thought that maybe he did it subconsciously. He had seen Hinata after the defeat of Pein and she seemed fine. But he never got the chance to talk to her to make sure she was healed because the whole village was celebrating Naruto's victory.

_Even if she hadn't confessed, I would still be really concerned. She is a good friend after all. After I get out of the Hospital I'll go see her to make sure she isn't hurt or anything…_

Just then a thought occurred to Naruto. _ARGH! WHAT IF SHE BRINGS UP THE CONFESSION? WHAT THE HELL WOULD I SAY TO HER? I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT HER LIKE THAT! SHIT!_

On the outside, Naruto was visibly upset. His hands were on his head and he was squirming dramatically, somehow moving from one spot to another without moving his legs. He stopped when someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Can I help you with something young man?" a man's voice came from behind Naruto. He turned to see whoever it was. He was shocked to see Hiashi Hyūga standing in front of him.

"Hyūga-sama! N-no I was just on my way to the hospital and I stopped here 'cause I remembered I never talked to Hinata about her condition. And then I remembered something I'd forgotten back at my house and it made me a little mad." Naruto told the head of the Hyūga clan, laughing nervously.

Hiashi had to chuckle at Naruto. "Naruto, you do realize my Byakugan can tell when you're being untruthful, right? Now, why don't you tell me the truth?" Hiashi teased Naruto lightly.

"Heheh… Um…" Naruto was having a hard time. "Well, I guess I should start with the beginning..." He took a deep breath and began speaking quickly.

"I never really talked to Hinata very much until the Chunin exams, even though she never teased me like everyone else, but she was always so shy and acted all weird around me and I could never figure out why then she cheered for me and helped me to get past my preliminary match against her teammate Kiba."

He took a deep breath and continued, "After Neji hurt her so bad I had to get revenge for her, but I wasn't really sure if I could but on the day of the finals I went past the training grounds and she was there. I was feeling really down and she cheered me up right away by telling me I wasn't a failure like I though and that she believed in me and that's when I learned that she wasn't weird, but a really nice person who was really shy."

He paused again to take a breath. "And since that time, I've really enjoyed hanging out with her and everything, but I never gave it any thought why she was so shy around everyone, especially me. But during my fight with Pein, I was injured and pinned to the ground and Hinata tried to save me but before she went on the offensive, she…"

"She told you how she felt about you, didn't she? She told you she loved you, correct?" Hiashi asked bluntly, but with a knowing smirk. He was proud of her daughter for finally getting the courage to confess to the blonde ninja.

It was widely known amongst the Hyūga clan that the young heiress loved the number one hyperactive ninja. However, it had only recently come to the clan head's attention. At first he wasn't sure how to react to the idea that his daughter was in love with the boy that a vast majority of the village's non-shinobi community hated. However after remembering who the young shinobi's father was, he fully accepted the idea.

Naruto was shocked that Hiashi knew already. "…Yeah…I was really shocked. No one has ever said that kind of thing to me before. I've never even thought about Hinata like that. She's a great friend and all… but I guess I never really got to know her enough to think about her like that, ya know?"

"Yes, I understand." Hiashi paused for a moment before continuing. "And what do you plan to say when replying to my daughter's confession? Or are you not planning on replying?"

Naruto stared at Hiashi for a moment before answering. "… I suppose I have to. I wouldn't be much of a man if I didn't, would I? But the problem is… I have no idea what to say to her."

"Oh?" Hiashi asked curiously. He was worried at first that Naruto was uninterested in his daughter, but was now unsure of what to think.

"I don't know how I feel about all this. All my life the only girl I ever liked was Sakura-chan. But she only loves Sasuke, and I don't think that's ever going to change… no matter how hard I try. I gave up on her three years ago to be honest. And even though I don't know as much as I should about Hinata, I know I want to get to know her more and I know I can't lose her." Naruto paused, waiting to see what Hinata's father would say.

"Go on. You have my attention Naruto. I'm listening and I will offer the best advice I can for both you and my daughter." Hiashi smiled slightly.

"Thank you. When Pein hurt her so badly, my heart broke, which is why I went all Kyūbi on him. That can only mean she's special to me… but is it as a friend or is it more? That's what I don't know…" Naruto finished with a sad, confused look on his face.

"Hm…" Hiashi thought for a moment. "I see your dilemma young man. However, I think you know the solution already." _Though I can see you're too dense to realize._  
>Naruto had his signature confused look on his face. "Really?"<p>

"Yes. The solution is: get to know her more. Talk to my daughter; spend more time with her. There's no harm in that. If you get to know her, I would venture to guess you will know the answer to your dilemma sooner than you think. Unless you find my daughter's appearance unattractive?" Hiashi glared slightly (though not entirely seriously) at Naruto.

"Of course she's attractive sir! I swear! I've always thought that at least!" Naruto panicked slightly. But he was not lying; he really did think that, he just didn't realize it until now.

Hiashi chuckled at Naruto again. "Relax Naruto. That was a joke. Although, I am glad you find my daughter attractive."

"Oh, yeah…" Naruto laughed nervously. _He's scary! Better watch myself or he could kill me._

"I'd tell my daughter you are here to talk to her, but I should give you time to think first. Besides, Hinata is out helping with the rebuilding of our village. I will tell her when she returns home to visit you in the hospital." Hiashi placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "Good luck Naruto. Think deeply."

"Thank you sir." Naruto smiled at the clan head. _Maybe he isn't so bad afterall._

Hiashi squeezed a little harder before continuing with his best impersination of the infamous 'Yamato Glare'. "And if you hurt my daughter or try to do anything immoral to her, I will not hesitate kill you where you stand."

"RIGHT! THANK YOU HYUGA-SAMA, SIR! I B-BETTER GET GOING! BYE!" Naruto yelled back to Hiashi as he ran away, terrified for his life. _I WAS WRONG!_

Hiashi could only laugh as Naruto ran in fear. After a few moments, he looked to the sky with a sad smile on his face.

_Are you watching, Minato? Your son has become a powerful ninja, a great friend, a hero of Konoha, and a fine young man. If I am lucky, he and Hinata will wed one day. Wouldn't that be something old friend?_ Hiashi looked to the sky and smiled before turning to walk into the Hyūga estate to help his family with the rebuilding process.

End CH 1

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><p>AN: Well, my first chapter of my very first fanfic. What do you think so far? I have more of the story done, but I'm currently editing it and I'm going to wait until I get some reviews for the first chapter to see what I need to fix or add to make the story better. So please, feel free to give me any ideas that would help to make my style of writing better. I appreciate any friendly advice you can give. Until next time.

CBM-1701


	2. At the Hospital

**Thanks for everyone who's read and reviewed my story so far! I really appreciate your opinions and hope you continue to enjoy my fanfic! I'll try to have a new chapter at least once a week, but with school and work that might not happen all the time. Anyway, here's CH 2! Hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!**

Key:

"Speech"

**"Kyūbi and other large beings"**

_Thought_

"Normal Speech _Emphasis on a word _Normal Speech_"_

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><p>CH 2: At the Hospital<p>

Naruto ran as fast as he could to the hospital. He felt the hospital was the safest place from Hiashi because at least if he got there, he couldn't kill him without someone seeing it. He made is way up to his room and laid in bed for a moment to catch his breath. He looked around the room to see that it looked like every other hospital he'd ever been in: plain, boring, and creepy. A moment later there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" He yelled and looked towards the door.

"Yo." Kakashi said casually as he entered the room.

"Kakashi-sensei! How are you feeling?" Naruto asked.

"Fine. A little tired, but at least I'm not dead anymore." Kakashi said with a small smile hidden by his mask. "How are you handling everything?"

"Pretty good. I mean, as good as I can handle everything, I guess. I know Tsunade baa-chan will wake up eventually. And I know the village will be rebuilt really fast since everyone is pitching in. But there's still a lot on my mind…" Naruto replied as honestly as he could. He was still feeling down, but was remaining hopeful about the whole situation.

"Oh?" Kakashi asked. _Wonder what he's thinking about if he's optimistic about all the major stuff._ "Such as?"

Naruto thought for a second. _Ok, Kakashi-sensei is trustworthy, but he's also the second biggest pervert I've ever met. So can I trust him to not give me shit about what Hinata said to me?...No probably not, but whatever. _"Promise not to say anything?" He finally asked.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry. I won't say anything to anyone. But I'm not promising to tease you about it." Kakashi said with a smirk.

"Thanks a lot." Naruto said sarcastically. _Bastard._

He took a breath and then went into the details surrounding Hinata's confession. Kakashi looked to be somewhat shocked at first, but gradually returned to his stoic appearance as Naruto explained his dilemma.

"What the hell am I supposed to do Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked after he finished his story. "This is the first time this has ever happened to me."

"Hm…" Kakashi thought for a moment. "Well if it were me, I'd probably tell her that I would like to be friends first and see where that took us. You know, dating and stuff. Not anything serious. But you two are already friends and you have hung out just the two of you before, so you're kind of already past that." Kakashi thought out loud again.

Naruto thought about that for a moment. _Have we gone on dates already? I don't remember anything like that…Hm…_ After some thought, he finally he remembered going to Ichiraku's just the two of them a few times.

"So I'd say you need to think about a few things huh? Maybe you need to talk to a few other people first. Maybe Sakura? Or one of her team mates, Shino probably. Kiba can be a little… emotional about things."

"Yeah, he can." Naruto smirked slightly.

"If you were really bold you could talk to Hyūga-sama about it." Kakashi said jokingly.

"Oh, he actually knows already. I ran into him on the way over here. He knew something was bothering me and since I can't lie to him, I told him the truth." Naruto stopped and Kakashi was speechless. "He said basically what you did and added he'd kill me where I stood if I ever hurt Hinata."

"I see…" Kakashi said surprised. "Well I don't know what else to say… so… good luck with that! I'm in the room across the way if you need me for something, so don't be afraid to ask for more advice if you need it. I've got a checkup and then I'm going to relax. Later."

Kakashi walked out the door leaving Naruto alone again. He sat in silence staring at the white ceiling for a few minutes thinking.

_Talking to Shino might be a good idea. But he'd probably just say the same thing as Kakashi-sensei and Lord Hyūga. And talking to Sakura-chan is probably a bad idea right now with Tsunade baa-chan's condition… I guess I'm on my own for now…_

Naruto sighed and reached for his iPod so he could listen to some music. He sat ph the bed listening to his music for about a half hour before he drifted to sleep.

Before long, Naruto found himself in a long, dark hallway with pipes on the walls and ceiling. There was water dripping from the pipes onto the already partially flooded floor. The air was thick with moisture, which made it harder to breath. It didn't take long for Naruto to figure out where he was.

"Aw man. I don't wanna talk to you, Kitsune-teme. What do you want now?"

Naruto began to walk down the hall towards the sound of growling. He turned the corner to see the gate and the seal that held the Kyūbi trapped inside of him.

"**Silence brat. Just because you and the Yondaime managed to reseal me in this prison doesn't mean you will remain in control forever. One wrong move and I'm back in control."** An evil grin spread across the fox's face. His red eyes glowed and hatred emanated off of him.

"Shut up, who asked you? Answer my question! What do you want?" Naruto wouldn't back down.

"**You're too arrogant brat. If it weren't for this seal, you would make a delicious appetizer." **The fox licked his lips and grinned again before becoming deathly serious. "**I have brought you here, believe it or not, to warn you of a coming threat."**

"Warn me of a coming threat?" Naruto asked confused.

"**Yes. Though we defeated Pein, there are others in the Akatsuki who are much stronger and more resourceful than he was. He was not the true leader. There was someone controlling him from the shadows, and he is much more powerful."** His eyes squinted as he thought of the danger of this person.

"I know." Naruto proclaimed without hesitation.

"**Oh? And how did you learn of this?"** The Kyūbi asked surprised.

"My father told me after he resealed you." Naruto informed the Kyūbi with a small smirk adorning his face.

The fox's eyes twitched slightly at the mention of the Yondaime. "**I see. Very well. He told you who it was in the Akatsuki that is really in control then?"**

"Yeah, the guy in the mask. Is he really that strong?" Naruto asked of the fox.

"**Yes. He is the one who controlled me and had me attack you village before you were born. He is very dangerous."** The Kyūbi starred at Naruto very seriously.

"Who is he?" Naruto asked.

"**He is the one who fought the Shodai Hokage in the Valley of the End, the eternal rival of the Senju Clan, and a member of the Uchiha as well as the first to gain the Mangekyō Sharingan: Madara Uchiha." **The fox spat at his name in disgust. "**I believe he is calling himself 'Tobi' while in that Akatsuki disguise. Though I'd say he enjoys the act too much."**

"Madara Uchiha… how is he still alive?" Naruto wondered.

"**He is powerful. When you are powerful, you can find a way to live a very long time. He likely used his defeat at the hands of the Shodaime to cover his movements and wait for a time when he could enact his plans for revenge."** The Kyūbi theorized.

"He will be stopped." Naruto said confidently. "I will stop him."

"**Do not get cocky brat, I don't want to die because you are careless. Now get out. I grow tired of your presence." **The giant fox laid his head down and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep.

"No need to be rude." Naruto said as he turned to leave. He walked down the hallway and turned to see a room he had never seen before in his mind.

"I wonder what's in there." He opened the door to find a room filled with pictures and a screen projector. "Huh? What's this?" He looked at all the pictures. They all contained memorable moments with Hinata: when she cheered for him during the fight with Kiba, her fight with Neji, her motivating him before the finals, eating at Ichiraku, and the fight with Pain among others. He assumed on the projector would be "videos" of them spending time together.

"This is kinda weird." Naruto said looking through everything. There was a bookshelf on one of the walls that contained written out descriptions of times he had spent together with Hinata. "Why is all this stuff here?"

"**You have rooms like that all over this place brat. This one though, is the most detailed. Only six others are close: the Uchiha brat, your silver haired sensei, the brown haired sensei, the old perverted Toad Sage, the current Hokage, and the pink haired woman. The others don't have the books or the architecture though. That means this woman is important in another manner."** Naturo heard the Kyūbi's thoughts.

"Oh. I'll have to check them all out someday. But I better be getting back. I can't rest if I'm here all night listening to you." Naruto said as he walked towards the exit. There was a picture of Hinata and him laughing at something while sitting on a rock, probably during one of the training sessions they had over the years. He smiled at it and exited the room and left his mind to sleep comfortably until morning. He was very curious about the rooms, but they could wait.

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><p>Hinata walked to the flower shop to get some flowers to plant in the Hyuga estate's garden. The estate was mostly intact, though the main house was damaged. However, only a few buildings were completely destroyed. Construction was already under way and making great progress. Many of the decorations and flowers outside the structures were torn up in the chaos of the attack, so Hinata decided she'd replace them to help boost morale.<p>

She greeted Ino and Sakura who were standing at the counter talking and began looking for the right flowers to replace the ones that were destroyed.

"Oh, I almost forgot I need some flowers too!" Sakura said when she noticed Hinata browsing for flowers. "Kakashi-sensei and Naruto are in the hospital to check their chakra networks and a few other things." She finished, not wanting to go any further into details.

"Oh yeah. I overheard Shizune-san saying Naruto would be there until they run a bunch of tests on him and he is cleared. I hope everything is alright." Ino responded in a concerned tone.

"WHAT?" Hinata suddenly appeared in front of Ino but quickly turned to Sakura. "Naruto-kun is in the hospital? Is he ok? He didn't seem hurt when we saw him after his fight with Pein. What's wrong? Is there anything I can do? I need to see him!" Hinata was shaking Sakura frantically trying to get an answer out of her before frantically trying to sprint to the hospital to see the love of her life.

"Woah! Easy Hinata. Give her some time to answer before you start freaking out." Ino laughed as she held Hinata's hood to keep her from leaving.

"Eep!" Hinata blushed. "Sorry Sakura-san… Please tell me what you know."

"It's ok…" Sakura said slightly surprised. "He's probably fine. Shizune-san just wants to run some tests to see if there were any adverse side effects of the Kyūbi taking over."

Hinata sighed in relief. "Thank Kami-sama… he's ok."

"You sure are worried about Naruto, Hinata. I know you have a crush on the guy, but if I didn't know any better I'd say you were in love with him." Ino said matter-of-factly. After a long awkward silence, it clicked. "WAIT! YOU DO LOVE HIM DON'T YOU?"

Hinata's face turned bright red and she desperately tried to think of an explanation but to no avail.

"Hinata." Sakura said with a sympathetic look on her face. "It's ok."

Hinata nodded and calmed down enough to speak. "Y-yes…I love Naruto-kun…" Her face turned red again and she started to fall over but Sakura caught her.

"Woah, easy Hinata. Ino, get a wet rag and a glass of water, please. We need to calm her down." Sakura told Ino who nodded and left to get a rag. When she returned, she placed the rag on Hinata's forehead and gave her a sip of water.

"Who would have thought? Hinata actually _loves_ Naruto. They aren't going out or anything right? Does he know?" Ino asked Sakura.

"I don't think they're together. And I don't know if he knows or not." Sakura responded. _Why am I feeling so uncomfortable with this?_

"He… knows… I think." Hinata answered Ino's question.

"He knows? How? Did you tell him or did he just find out from someone else?" Ino asked the blushing Hyūga. She was a sucker for gossip, especially when it had to do with love.

"…I told him. When I tried to save him from Pein. He tried to tell me to run away, to save myself. But I couldn't just leave him there at the mercy of Pein. I told him that the whole reason I am a successful kunoichi is because of him; that his attitude and his nindo helped me to become who I am. I told him I wasn't afraid to die protecting him because—" Hinata paused. "Because I love him."

"AW!" Ino squealed. "So cute! Did he say anything back? Have you talked to him?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, but I never really expected an answer. I just wanted him to know just in case…" She couldn't finish.

"Oh…" Ino bowed her head in understanding. "Well you need to talk to him about it if you ever want to know the truth. Right Sakura?" She turned to look at Sakura.  
>"Y-yeah." Sakura agreed cautiously.<p>

"It's settled then! We're going to the hospital to talk to Naruto! You need some flowers Hinata." Ino began to get excited.

"Ino, we can't just force them to talk about this, it should happen naturally. And we shouldn't be there when they do either!" Sakura argued.

"Relax Sakura. We'll all visit him as friends. And when we leave, Hinata will walk in by herself and they'll talk then. We'll just wait outside for them to finish talking. That way Hinata won't be alone when they're all done! It's perfect!" Ino responded.

"Well I guess that's ok." Sakura said finding nothing she could argue against.

"Are you ok with it?" Ino turned to look at Hinata.

"Y-y-yeah. I g-guess s-so." Hinata said nervously.

"You can't avoid it forever. You're gonna have to talk to him if you ever want to be together! It's better to just get it over with." Ino reassured the girl.

"Y-yeah. You're right." Hinata finally agreed.

"Great!" Ino said excited. "Now let's find you the perfect flowers for Naruto." She set out looking for the flowers that held the right meaning for the occasion.

She decided against the obvious and cliché red rose. Instead, she went with a combination of red and white carnations. The red carnations symbolized Hinata's passion and admiration towards Naruto while the white carnation symbolized her devotion to him, as well as the innocence and purity of Hinata's own soul.

"There." Ino said as she finished setting the flowers in a vase. Even she was impressed at how good it looked together.

"Wow..." Hinata said in amazement looking at the bouquet of flowers. "It's perfect. Thank you Ino-san."

"Don't mention it. Now let's get going! I'll be back in a little while Mom!" Ino called out to her mother.

The three kunoichi walked together to the hospital. Before going to Naruto's room, they stopped at Kakashi's room first and left him some flowers. Then Sakura and Ino went to Naruto's room, leaving Hinata with Kakashi to wait for the signal to go to Naruto's room.

"So…" Kakashi decided to break the silence. "You love Naruto huh? Quite a surprise, though you make it kind of obvious sometimes. You're the heiress to the Hyuga clan; more or less royalty in Konoha; and you love the village idiot. Where have I heard that story before?" Kakashi asked jokingly.

Hinata giggled at how Kakashi had worded it. "I suppose you're right. It seems a little cliché doesn't it? But it's the truth. I love him." He voice slowly getting quieter at the end.

"Yeah, I know. Be strong, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you talk to him. He's a little dense, but he's not stupid. He'll at least give you a shot. What's not to like about you? You're a talented and beautiful kunoichi, you're the kindest person in Konoha, and you're a princess." Kakashi tried reassuring Hinata.

"I don't know…" Hinata said nervously. "I guess we'll see pretty soon though…"

"Everything will be fine." Kakashi said. He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and smiled in an attempt to calm the Hyūga down.

"Right!" Hinata returned his smile with one of confidence. _This is no time to be thinking like this, I need to be more confident!_

In the other room Ino and Sakura were talking to Naruto about his stay in the hospital. As they turned to leave, Naruto stopped them.

"Wait, there's something I need to get your advice about. Both of you since you're here too Ino." Naruto told them.

"Ok, go ahead." Ino said. _Must be about Hinata!_

"Yeah, you can talk to us about anything Naruto." Sakura told him. _Is he going to ask what to do about Hinata?_

"It's kind of embarrassing…" Naruto hesitated slightly, donning a slight blush as he spoke. "When I was almost captured by Pein, Hinata-chan defended me. Before she attacked Pein, she confessed to me…"

Ino squealed. "NO WAY! EEK! So cute!" She tried to make it convincing that she didn't know already.

"Really? She told you she loves you so easily? But Hinata's always been so shy." Sakura tried to sound generally shocked.

"Yeah…" Naruto responded. "I don't know what to do. I mean…I like Hinata-chan as a person… but I never really looked at her that way before. She's really pretty and a nice person, but I just don't know… it's just so sudden."

"Well, why don't you talk to her about it? I'm sure she'll sit down and talk with you." Ino said. _Honestly, you're so dense Naruto._ "I think you should just go for it! Take her out on some dates and you'll fall for her. She's so sweet!"

"Isn't that a little bold Ino?" Sakura asked.

Ino shrugged. "Maybe a little. But Hinata confessed first. You already know her feelings, but neither one of you know yours. The only way to figure it out is to spend time together." Ino told Naruto.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sakura said, sounding a little annoyed and unconvinced.

"Ok… I guess I can do that." Naruto smiled. "If you see her, tell her I want to talk to her ok?"

"Oh, I'm sure once she finds out where you are, she'll come running to see you." Ino said a little too obviously.

"Well, we don't want to keep you from getting rest. We'll be back tomorrow to check in again and see how the tests are going. Take it easy Naruto; get lots of rest. We'll see you soon." Sakura hugged her teammate and Ino did the same before both kunoichi turned to leave.

"Thanks you guys. See you later." Naruto shut his eyes and thought about everything they'd said. _I guess they're right. This is the only way I'll get to know the real Hinata._

Just then a knock came at the door. Naruto figured it was Shizune. "Come in!" As the door opened Naruto saw that it wasn't Shizune standing in the doorway, but the very person who had just been thinking of before he tried to sleep.

"H-Hinata…-chan…"

End CH 2

* * *

><p>And there's CH 2 of Troubles and Triumphs. Thanks so much for everyone who's read my fanfic so far, I hope you continue to enjoy my work.<p>

Sorry for the cliffhanger by the way. You'll have to wait a couple days for CH 3, I still need to reread and edit a few things before I'll be ready to post it.

Please Continue to read and review! Any friendly advice you can give is welcome!

Until next time,

CBM-1701


	3. Confrontation

**Hey guys and gals, I got a special treat for you all. I got this chapter finished early this morning so I decided that I would post it early. I have the first eight or so chapters done, but I'm going through and re-editing them to make sure that they have no mistakes and the content is good. So here's Chapter 3! I hope everyone like this chapter, please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!**

Key:

"Speech"

**"Kyūbi and other large beings"**

_Thought_

"Normal Speech _Emphasis on a word _Normal Speech_"_

* * *

><p>CH 3: Confrontation<p>

"Come in!" As the door opened Naruto saw that it wasn't Shizune standing in the doorway, but the very person who had just been thinking of before he tried to sleep. "H-Hinata…-chan…"

"H-hello, N-Naruto-kun. A-ano…how are you feeling?" Hinata asked Naruto nervously.

"H-hey, I'm feeling pretty good. How are you feeling? I never got to talk after I came back from talking with the real Pein. Are you ok?" Naruto replied nervously.

"O-oh, I'm g-great. T-thank you for asking." Hinata blushed.

"N-no problem." Naruto returned her blush.

There was a short awkward silence before Hinata spoke again.

"Ah! H-here! I b-brought you some flowers. I-I hope you l-like them…" Hinata's blush now covered her whole face and she was visibly shaking. _I'm alone in the same room with Naruto-kun! I'm so nervous. I can't stop shaking!_

"T-thank you, Hinata-chan. They're really pretty. Did you get these from Ino's place?" Naruto asked nervously, not fully grasping the reasons why he was nervous.

"Y-yeah. I went there to pick up some flowers for my family's estate and I heard that you were in the hospital so I thought that I'd bring you some to cheer you up." Hinata replied nervously.

"Oh, I see. That's really nice of you. I really appreciate it. Was your estate damaged very badly?" Naruto asked with a hint of guilt in his voice.

"N-Not compared to the rest of the village." Hinata started to speak less nervously, she was getting used to the situation.

"Oh, well that's good." Naruto said. Hinata moved closer to Naruto and placed the flowers on the table next to him. She went to the sink and got some water to put in the vase. While she was getting water, Naruto began to speak.

"Hey…Hinata-chan? About what happened before…" Naruto began nervously, unsure how to bring it up.

Hinata froze; she expected that she would be the one that would have to bring it up. "Y-yes…?"

"Well…there are actually two things…" Naruto continued. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from Pein. I wasn't strong enough to protect you…"

"No!" Hinata said loudly. "You did protect me. I'm alive, am I not? You were in trouble; it was my choice to try to save you. If I hadn't…" Hinata began to shake and cry at the memories of Pein's assault and the thought of losing Naruto.

"Hey, hey…" Naruto stood and walked over to her. "Please don't cry. I'm sorry. I'm alive too, right? Look." When she didn't look up at him, he did the only thing he thought would calm her down, pullint Hinata into a hug. "See? I'm right here. I'm alive and well."

Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruto's waist and pulled him in closer. She cried on his shoulder for several minutes. Soon, the crying turned to sobs before finally disappearing all together. After she regained her composure she slowly began to realize where exactly she was and became very embarrassed, blushing from head to toe, but didn't pull away. She wanted to stay in his arms as long as she could because she was unsure if she'd ever get the opportunity again.

"You feeling better now?" Naruto asked after the young heiress stopped sobbing.

"Y-yeah…" was all she could manage to say.

"Good." Naruto smiled lightly. They stood in silence for a few more seconds before Hinata started to pull away slightly.

"Thank you Naruto-kun. I f-feel better now. I'm s-sorry for breaking down like that." Hinata said her head bowed so as to not reveal her red face.

"It's ok. I understand. I lost it big time when I thought Pein killed you…" Naruto paused in remembrance.

He started shaking as he imagined Pein toying with Hinata as she tried to protect him. He remembered Pein stabbing Hinata in front of his eyes. He felt the Kyūbi's chakra beginning to rise and take over his body, but could do nothing to stop the rage from consuming him as he remembered his most painful memory to date.

"N-Naruto-kun? Is everything ok?" She looked up at Naruto's face when she felt his chakra rise. She watched as tears rolled down Naruto's face and the red chakra enveloped the man she loved.

"Naruto-kun!" She wiped the tears away from his face with her hands before wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her to comfort him. "I'm ok! Pein didn't kill me! I'm right here. Please stop! The Kyūbi is taking over your body again! You have to calm down! Please, Naruto-kun!"

This time it was Naruto who pulled Hinata deeper into the hug, his arms wrapping tightly around her slender waist as he pulled her close.

After a few tense moments, the red chakra slowly began to dissipate and he stopped shaking, but continued to hold Hinata as the young blonde continued to cry. Hinata had never seen Naruto so vulnerable before. She found herself wondering whom (if anyone) had ever seen Naruto in this state before. He was always so strong, so brave, that he never allowed any negative emotions be displayed for everyone to see, other than anger.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said as she felt the love of her life's chakra calm. They held each other close for several minutes. The emotional stress both had been through in the past few days had finally snapped and began its' release.

"I'm better now Hinata. Sorry about that." Naruto said in barely a whisper.

"It's ok, I understand." Hinata reassured Naruto that she didn't think any less of him because of his unexpected outburst of tears. "Naruto-kun…?"

"Hmm?" Naruto asked simpily.

"Why did you freak out like that when I was hurt so bad by Pein?" It had been bugging her since she found out about Naruto transforming into the Kyūbi after she was injured.

"Because I can't stand the thought of losing one of my friends." He responded quietly.

"Oh…I see…" Hinata responded simply, the disappointment evident in her voice as the tears slowly began to fall down her cheeks once again. She wasn't sure if she could take Naruto rejecting her. She contemplated running out of the room and hiding in her home until Naruto forgot she ever confessed. But Naruto wasn't letting that happen.

"I know what you're thinking, that's the other thing we need to talk about." Naruto didn't let go of Hinata, but he did pull his head away to look at her in the face to see she was crying again.

"It's *sob* ok. I understand." Hinata said and began to pull away from Naruto.

"Hey, I said I wanted to talk about it. You're assuming that I don't like you when I haven't even said anything. So stop, ok?" Naruto lifted her face to wipe her tears.

"Ok…" Hinata said. She wanted to know how Naruto felt, but she was so nervous and lacked any form of confidence.

Naruto gathered his thoughts before speaking. "When you told me you…loved me, I was so shocked to hear you say that. No one's ever said that to me before. Let alone a girl. But then…" Naruto paused in rememberence, "I didn't even have time to think about it because you attacked Pein. And then he…hurt you so badly. I was so angry! All I could think to do was kill him! When I finally gained control over the Kyūbi again, it felt like I had a hole in my heart. I thought you were dead. Not just you, I thought I might have killed everyone when I went Kyūbi. Then I felt everyone's chakra, I was so glad you were alive, that everyone was alive.

"After I was finished with Pein, I thought about what you said. And I determined that…well…I don't know how to love someone. I don't even know what love is. I never experienced it growing up so I don't know anything about it. But I do know that my heart broke when I saw you get hurt. I've thought about it a long time and I've determined that in order to figure out my feelings, I need to learn more about you. So if it's ok with you, I'd like to spend more time getting to know you better before I officially respond. Is that ok?" There was a short silence that made Naruto very nervous. _Did I say something to upset her? Did I say something wrong?_

Hinata had listened to Naruto the whole time. She finally understood the look he gave her when she was defending him. He was shocked to hear the truth, not who it was coming from necessarily, just the words themselves. She understood everything he said. It wasn't that he didn't love her at all. She took a deep breath in and wiped away a stray tear from her face before speaking.

"Yes, I'd like that Naruto-kun." Hinata gave him a soft smile. "I'd like that very much."

This time it was Naruto's turn to smile. It wasn't his usual smile though; Hinata noticed it appeared warmer, even more genuine, than his usual smile.

"Thank you." Naruto said softly.

"No, thank you." Hinata replied. She boldly pulled Naruto close again. She never wanted to let go of him. They held each other close for a moment before they parted wearing matching blushes.

"Naruto-kun, would you mind if I asked how you stopped the Kyūbi's control over you?" Hinata asked curiously.

Slightly shocked at first, he blinked at the question in slight confusion but soon answered. "Not at all." Naruto responded. "I didn't." Hinata looked confused at his answer. "I was ready to remove the seal and release the Kyūbi completely in order to get revenge for your death. But then, someone stopped me."

"Who?" Hinata asked curiously.

"The Yondaime." Naruto responded simply.

Hinata gasped. "But how?"

"In my mind, Kyūbi-teme is trapped behind a sealed gate. When I need his power I don't remove the seal, the seal acts as a filter so that I can access his chakra. But when I get emotional or try to take too much chakra at one time, his control over me becomes greater and the seal weakens. His influence increases with every tail of chakra I get. Right now I can remain in control with three of the nine tails. I basically went full Kyūbi, so Kyūbi-teme was in full control of my body and mind. I almost removed the seal when the Yondaime physically appeared in my mind. Apparently when he sealed the fox in me, he sealed some of himself in me as well. He did that to do exactly what he did: stop me from removing the seal. And it worked. He stopped me and fixed the seal. That let me snap out of it." Naruto explained the processes behind his Jinchuriki seal.

"I see." Hinata responded. "Did you talk to Yondaime-sama at all about why he did it? Why you? And why not just kill the Kyūbi? It doesn't make sense to me. If he had the power to seal the Kyūbi, he probably could have killed it."

"Yeah, we talked briefly. Mortals can't kill demons, only other demons, angels, or Gods can kill them. But humans can seal them away permanently into a human, or temporarily into a sacred item." Naruto looked around the room and became very serious. "Can you keep a secret? This is classified above top secret. Promise me you won't tell anyone until after I've spoken with Tsunade baa-chan about it."

"Of course. I promise I won't say a word to anyone about it without your permission, Naruto-kun." Hinata nodded.

"This isn't the classified part yet. The Yondaime sealed the Kyūbi in me because I was the only one capable of it. I was a freshly newborn child, and only a newborn can have the seal placed on them, otherwise the will of the Kyūbi's power would kill them. Also, my vast chakra reserves that are apparently common in members of the Uzumaki clan help me to keep it under control easier." Naruto began explaining.

"Ok, that makes sense. " Hinata thought out loud.

"But that's not all. He thought that someday, I could learn to control the Kyūbi and use it's power to protect everyone in Konoha." Naruto continued. "He said it was because I am my father's son that he could trust me to wield the power responsibly."

"Your father? Who is…was he?" Hinata was immensely curious and excited. She was learning something about Naruto that, as far as she knew, no one else knew about.

"This is the classified part" Naruto took a deep breath. "My father was none other than Minato Namikaze…the Yondaime himself."

Hinata gasped very loudly at this revelation. "Are…are you sure you're father is Yondaime-sama? Konoha's Yellow Flash?"

"Yep, he told me so himself." Naruto said with a small smile on his face.

"Wow…that's incredible. Amazing." Hinata spoke in awe.

"Yeah…pretty cool right?" Naruto said with a small laugh.

"Definitely!" Hinata giggled. It was getting easier for her to be around Naruto. Hinata was almost mesmerized to be in the presence of _the _son of _the _Yondaime. If she were more honest with herself, she'd have admitted to being _totally_ turned on by this revelation.

Naruto looked at Hinata as she giggled. Before he even knew what he was saying, he spoke. "You know, you're really pretty. I guess I never noticed before because you were always so shy and wouldn't look at me in the eyes. But now here you are laughing and holding onto me—"

Naruto stopped and looked down at Hinata and realized that they were still holding each other, her sizable breasts pressed against his chest. He began to blush more than he ever blushed before. "Gah!"

At first, Hinata wondered why Naruto began to blush and 'gah-ed', but it didn't take long to figure it out. She gasped and let go of Naruto and backed away quickly.

"EEP! I'm sorry! I didn't notice! Please forgive me!" She stammered her response and blushed, just like she always did.

"No it's ok. I was the one who hugged you first. I should be saying sorry, it was inappropriate of me to do so." Naruto apologized.

"No don't apologize. I…kinda…liked…it…" Hinata said nervously.

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Oh right, I forgot, you love me…" Naruto finally remembered and laughed.

"Yeah…" Hinata decided to be bold once more. "I…love you, more than anything Naruto-kun." She blushed but smiled as she said it. It felt good to say it to his face under less stressful circumstances.

Naruto blushed at her sudden second confession. This obviously wasn't the first time, but it effected him just as much as before. He stood starring at her in shock for several seconds before snapping out of it. He smiled at her softly. He walked towards her and pulled her close again.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan." Naruto said with a smile.

"F-for what Naruto-kun?" She asked in confusion, blushing even more.

"For loving me, and for telling me. No girl has ever given me the time of day in this way, but you've always been there for me. Thank you." Naruto responded. He put his chin on top of her head. "Please, don't ever stop caring."

"You're welcome Naruto-kun. And I never will." Hinata smiled. She breathed in his scent. She could smell the fresh smell of his shampoo, body wash, and deodorant, and couldn't get enough of the scent. She could feel his muscles through his jacket; he was lean, but cut. But being a ninja that was to be expected. She held onto him like he would disappear if she didn't.

Naruto was also enjoying Hinata's closeness, her soft breasts and tight body pressed so close to his that he felt as though literally connected to one another. She smelled like some kind of flower he couldn't identify off the top of his head. He found himself wondering what kind of shampoo she used. He began to stroke her back lightly. He chuckled lightly when he felt Hinata jump at this contact. She looked up at him blushing.

"Is that ok?" He asked not wanting to make her too nervous.

"Y-yeah, it's comforting." Hinata smiled. She thought that maybe she should make the next move. But she was afraid of rejection or that she would push him away by moving too fast.

Naruto noticed that something was on her mind. "Everything ok?"

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah. Everything's f-fine." She decided to go for it. "Naruto-kun?" _I can't believe I'm doing this!_

"Yeah?" he began to tilt his head down to look at her.

Hinata stood on her toes and planted a kiss on Naruto's cheek. She wanted to kiss his lips, but decided that was too bold and too embarrassing to do right now.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto touched the warm spot on his cheek where she kissed him and looked at Hinata shocked. "What was that for? Not that I mind!"

"For protecting me and for caring about me." Hinata smiled at Naruto with confidence for the first time.

As Naruto looked at Hinata's more confident eyes, he felt something new brewing inside of him. He never wanted to let go of Hinata. He wanted to stand by her side and protect her forever. She was special to him, and he knew it.

"Oh, then, you're welcome." He returned her smile. The two young ninja stood in a comfortable silence, just holding each other for what seemed like days before Naruto reluctantly release her.

"You better get going, it's getting late. I'm sure your dad would like to spend some time with his daughter after everything that's happened." He didn't want to get her in trouble with her dad. And he _never_ wanted Hiashi to have _any_ reason to distrust him.

"Yeah…" Hinata looked even more disappointed than she sounded, if that was possible.

This time, Naruto leaned over and planted a kiss on Hinata's cheek. "Come visit me tomorrow after my tests with Shizune nee-san? I'd like to talk some more."

"Yes! Of course!" Hinata said with renewed confidence.

"Ok, see you tomorrow then." Naruto walked her to the door and gave one last hug to Hinata.

"Yes, see you tomorrow. Be sure to get rest. I hope you like your flowers. Goodbye!" She said and turned to leave. She was sad to leave, but so happy at the events that had just transpired. She ran down the hallway with renewed energy and confidence. She couldn't wait to tell Sakura and Ino what had just happened.

Naruto made his way to his bed and collapsed. He was exhausted. _Way too much excitement for one day, I need some sleep._ He closed his eyes and began to drift when another knock came at the door.

_Ugh._ "Come in!" He turned to see Ino and Sakura in the doorway smiling at him.

"What are you guys—?" Naruto began before he was interrupted.

"Hinata looked pretty happy when she ran out of your room. What happened in here? She was in here for quite a while." Ino said with a smile on her face. "You weren't doing anything perverted with her, were you? And don't lie, I can figure out if you're lying using my powers so you might as well come clean."

Sakura stepped in and hit Ino over the head. "Honestly Ino, do you really think Hinata is that kind of girl? And for that matter, Naruto isn't that kind of guy! I'd know; I'm his teammate and best friend, not to mention the girl he fawned over when we were younger." _Now that I think about it, I kinda miss that…_

"Yeah yeah. I know, but I like teasing him." Ino laughed. "Seriously though Naruto, what happened in here? Hinata was in the best mood I've ever seen."

"Woah, hold on a second. You helped Hinata-chan with the flowers, huh? You knew she was here the whole time?" Naruto finally figured it out.

"Duh!" both girls said in unison.

"Anyway, tell us what happened!" Ino kept pressing the issue and poking him in the shoulder as she and Sakura sat on the side of the bed.

"Ok! Jeez." Naruto began to retell what happened while Hinata was in his room. Ino squealed whenever she thought something was cute and Sakura remained silent. Both were going to have a good talk with Hinata later.

"So for now, we're gonna hang out and stuff and just see where it goes." Naruto finished the story.

"Eek! How exciting! Aw!" Ino squealed in delight.

"Just don't rush anything Naruto. You don't want to hurt her by making her think she has a chance if you don't really like her. Her dad would probably kill you if you did." Sakura cautioned Naruto.

Naruto shivered at the memory of her father's glare. "Yeah, he already said he would. I'll be careful. Don't worry. She's coming back tomorrow to see me and talk some more. Hopefully all of Shizune's tests determine it's ok for me to leave. I'm bored of this place already."

"You should take her somewhere nice if you do. Don't just take her to that ramen place you always go to, even if she likes it too. It's just not the right place for a date." Ino said in her usual snobby tone.

"I disagree actually. Hinata's not the type of girl that needs to go somewhere nice or expensive to have a good time." Sakura informed Naruto.

"Yeah, you're probably right actually." Ino agreed after a moment of thought.

"Well I have to get through the tests first." Naruto said with a smile.

"That's true." Ino nodded. "Anyway, that's all we came back for. Seriously Naruto, you'd be crazy to pass up someone as good as Hinata. She's got looks, personality, brains, _and_ money."

"Yeah… I know." Naruto said with a soft smile. "I guess only time will tell right?"

Both girls nodded at Naruto's answer. Sakura put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and gave him a concerned look. "Just be careful, ok? I don't want you getting hurt either. You have had too much pain in your life already."

"Sakura…" Ino whispered quietly. Something deeper was going on, but Sakura herself didn't know it yet. But Ino was going to find out.

"Right, thanks Sakura." Naruto smiled at her.

"Anytime." She returned the smile. "We better go; you need your rest. Sleep well. We'll be here tomorrow. Right Ino?"

"Right, I'll bring Chōji and Shikamaru too." Ino responded.

"And I'll bring Sai and Yamato-taicho." Sakura smiled.

"Sure. Sounds good. Thanks you guys." Naruto smiled back.

"Of course. We'll see you tomorrow. Night." Sakura hugged Naruto.

"See you tomorrow. Goodnight!" Ino hugged Naruto too.

"Night!" Naruto waved as they left.

Naruto closed his eyes and began slowly drifting to sleep. He thought of Hinata and of the endless possibilities of their new relationship.

_Did you feel like this when you met Mom, Dad? Now that I think about it you never told me who Mom was. I'll ask Kakashi-sensei tomorrow. He probably knows. He better not pull any of that confidential bull shit either or I'll kick his ass!_

His mind calmed as he drifted into sleep. The few wounds he had began to heal faster, his chakra began to restore itself, and he felt better and was able to relax.

The Kyūbi was doing his job.

End CH 3

* * *

><p>Well, There you go! There's Chapter 3! Some of you were probably expecting a little more from their first encounter since the Invasion of Pein, but they're gonna take it slow. But not too slow. I don't wanna leave you guys hanging after all haha.<p>

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Please review!

PS: I'll be trying to get the chapters I have finished and posted as soon as possible. So check in often for the next couple of days. After that, it'll probably be a week between chapters. I'll be sure to be as consistent as possible.

Until next time,

CBM-1701


	4. Tests

Hey everyone! I've been on a roll today and just got Ch 4 finished! I can probably get one more Chapter out by the end of the day. So look forward to one more chapter today and probably two tomorrow. After that, it'll probably slow down because I'm running out of material that I've already written. So please, enjoy Chapter 4! Don't forget to review! The really help me to know if I'm doing a good job or not!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!**

Key:

"Speech"

**"Kyūbi and other large beings"**

_Thought_

"Normal Speech _Emphasis on a word _Normal Speech_"_

A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, please go easy on me. I'll accept any friendly advice you're willing to give to help make this story better. Thanks in advance!

**WARNING: THIS FANFIC IS RATED M FOR A REASON! THERE WILL BE BLOOD, GUTS, SEXUAL CONTENT, ETC. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

* * *

><p>CH 4: Tests<p>

Naruto woke the next morning and promptly made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself. He decided to shower because he didn't know when the tests were going to begin or when his friends and Hinata would come visit him today.

The warm water felt rejuvenating after sleeping for so long. His body loosened up and he never felt better. After a little relaxing, Naruto washed his hair and body and finished his shower. He shaved and fixed his hair as best he could and left the bathroom to get his clothes for the day. He put on his signature outfit and sat on the bed and watched TV for a few moments before deciding he was going to get some breakfast.

He left his room and knocked on Kakashi's door to see if he was awake yet. Kakashi answered the door and agreed to go get breakfast with Naruto. They walked to the cafeteria and ordered their breakfast. Because it was a hospital, there was a limited choice of what they could eat. Kakashi decided to get a bagel with cream cheese and a green apple. Naruto was very distraught when they didn't have breakfast ramen, but settled on a bowl of oatmeal and an orange. After they finished eating and talking with some of the other patients, they started to head back upstairs when they ran into Shizune.

"Ah, I thought this is where you two would be. Was your breakfast alright?" Shizune greeted them with a smile.

"Not my first choice, but not bad." Kakashi returned the greeting with a nod.

"It wasn't ramen, but it wasn't bad." Naruto said as he patted his satisfied stomach.

"Good. Kakashi, your test results are in. You can leave whenever you want. All your tests came back normal. Naruto, I'll be up in your room in an hour to run your tests. Please be ready ok?" Shizune informed the two men.

"I think I'll stick around for the tests and analysis… if that's alright with you of course, Shizune-san." Kakashi responded.

"Yes that's fine. It shouldn't take more than an hour as long as everything is fine." Shizune said with a smile. "You are his sensei after all."

Kakashi only nodded in response.

"Ok, I'll be ready Shizune nee-san. See you then." Naruto said as he and Kakashi turned and headed back up to their rooms.

"So Naruto how was your talk with Miss Hinata yesterday?" Kakashi asked as they stood in the elevator.

"You know about that already?" Naruto asked slightly embarrassed.

"Well, yeah. Where do you think Hinata was while Sakura and Ino were in your room? Her and I talked a lot about you. She really likes you Naruto." Kakashi looked at Naruto seriously.

"Yeah, I know. It was a good talk. A lot happened, but the gist of it is we agreed for now to 'date' more or less. We're gonna hang out, probably train and spar with each other, and learn more about each other. I did get a kiss on the cheek for protecting her though. I returned it as thanks for always being there for me. To be honest though, I think there's a legitimate, almost definite possibility this becomes more than just friends very soon." Naruto informed his sensei with a small smile.

"Oh? Well that's good that you already feel that way. But I agree that you should take it more or less slow." Kakashi responded.

"Yeah. I think it's the right thing to do. But I'm not sure how slow it's really going to go. It was really hard to not _actually_ kiss her yesterday." Naruto said as they stepped out of the elevator.

"Well, that's understandable. Kissing is part of dating after all. You've got to experiment a little in dating to figure out if someone is really right for you or not. But you just can't let things go too far or there could be consequences." Kakashi explained to his young, inexperienced student.

"Yeah I know. Well, I guess I'll figure that out later seeing as we're starting out by just hanging out and stuff." Naruto said as they reached the rooms.

"Right. When are you seeing her next?" Kakashi asked.

"Today after my tests sometime." Naruto responded.

"Oh, that's good. Well then let us hope all the tests go well." Kakashi smiled through his mask.

"Right, thanks Kakashi-sensei. I'm gonna lay down for a bit before Shizune nee-san comes up. See you soon." Naruto waved at Kakashi and walked into his room to relax.

"Alright. Later." Kakashi opened the door to his room and walked inside to rest for a while as well.

Soon enough, Shizune knocked on Kakashi's door and informed him that the tests were going to start soon. The two of them went into Naruto's room and found him sitting on the bed with his shirt off waiting for them.

"Hey guys. Let's get this over with so I can get out of here already. I'm so bored." Naruto complained.

Shizune took his vitals and found them to be normal, as expected. She attached some patches to his arms, legs, chest, stomach, back, neck, and head to take other readings. She had Naruto create a Kage Bunshin to read how his chakra levels and coils reacted. They appeared normal to her, but the data would have to be analyzed later. Next she had him manipulate his nature chakra to see if increasing chakra output had any effect on those readings. They too appeared normal. The same process was followed when Naruto was asked to enter Sage Mode. Finally, Naruto was asked to call on the power of the Kyūbi. He manipulated the darker chakra and brought it to the surface and soon after suppressed it with relative ease. The data came through and it too appeared normal. Well…normal for using the chakra of the most powerful Bijū of all at least. All of the data was sent to the lab for analysis.

"We should know in about an hour or two if everything is ok. Everything seemed fine though. Wait here and we'll let you know when the results are in ok?" Shizune smiled at the two ninja.

"Ok, I'll be here. Sakura and Ino should be coming with Chōji, Shikamaru, Sai and Yamato-sensei so I've got no problems waiting it out." Naruto nodded.

"Oh, guess I can stick around then. I was thinking of leaving to give you and Hinata some time alone if she was coming over by herself." Kakashi teased.

"Hinata-san? Are you and Hinata-san dating Naruto?" Shizune asked with a small smile on her face.

"Well kinda. It's a long story. But basically she confessed that she loves me when she defended me from Pein and after talking for a while, we decided that we'd try this out and see where it went. I like her as a friend, but I'm not sure if I love her or not." Naruto explained. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about Shizune nee-san. What do you think?"

"Hinata-san is quite the catch Naruto. She's the heiress to her clan, she's a fine ninja, and she's one of the beautiful kunoichi in Konoha. Plus she already loves you anyway." Shizune smiled at the blonde ninja.

"Yeah, pretty lucky of me huh?" Naruto smiled.

Shizune nodded. "Well I better go help interpret the data, I'll have everyone escorted up here when they arrive. Bye for now." Shizune said as she exited the room. There was a short silence after Shizune exited.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto began. When Kakashi turned and looked at him, he continued. "Did you know that the Yondaime was my dad?"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed slightly and the question, he wasn't sure how to answer. "Yeah, I did. I'm sorry I never told you anything. Sandaime-sama made a law that prohibited the villagers from talking about your connection with Minato-sensei or the Kyūbi around you or their children so you would live as normal a life as possible. I thought you had died in the attack, but when I saw you for the first time, I knew exactly who you were. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you for so long, but I will make it up to you."

"No, I understand that you couldn't say anything. I just wanted to know." Naruto responded. "What about my mom? Who was she? What was she like? Was she pretty? Come on! Tell me!"

"Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki. She was born in the former Uzu no Kuni (Land of Whirlpools). She moved to Konoha after it fell. She met your father in the academy and fell in love with him after he saved her life. She was a strong kunochi both in mind and body. She was a lot like you actually: loud and always looking for attention. She was very beautiful. I'm sure Tsunade-sama has a picture of her somewhere. She was also the container of the Kyūbi before it was ripped out of her during your birth."

"I see…thanks for telling me that." Naruto said, happy and sad at the same time. "I met him."

"What?" Kakashi was confused but knew who _he_ was. "How?"

"When I began transforming into the Kyūbi, my seal was breaking. But Dad sealed some of his own chakra with the Kyūbi's so if the seal ever broke, he could fix it. After he stopped the Kyūbi and fixed the seal, we talked for a while." Naruto explained.

"I see. That's great you got to meet him; he was a good man. He and your mom loved you very much, and would be very proud of who you have become. Now you finally know the truth." Kakashi smiled at Naruto.

"Yeah." Naruto smiled. "Is everyone else going to find out?"

"Eventually. Now that you know, you can reveal it to whomever you want to. It's probably for the best now. After Pein, everyone in Konoha sees you as a hero, civilians and ninja alike. Now's the time to build upon that so _when_ Tsunade-sama appoints you as the next Hokage, everyone will agree that you are fit for the position." Kakashi explained. "I'm sure she'll make the announcement as soon as she wakes up and sees the time is right."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that. I told Hinata-chan last night when she asked how I regained control of my body after the Kyūbi took over. I'll let everyone else know later." Naruto explained.

"Let us know about what?" Came a voice from the direction of the door. Naruto looked up to see Sakura standing in the doorway with their comrades behind her. "Sorry, more people came than expected." Sakura said scratching the back of her head embarrassed.

"Ah! My eternal rival Kakashi!" Gai said as he moved past everyone faster than they could see to get to Kakashi. "I hope that your youthful energy has not been taken away by this experience! As you can clearly see, mine is stronger than ever!" He made the 'nice guy' pose and flashed a smile that would make a nuclear explosion look a candle.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine." Kakashi sighed.

"Hey guys. Well, seeing as everyone is here I might as well tell you now. Come on in." Naruto stood and went to greet everyone. He made a beeline for Hinata without even realizing it. "Hi Hinata-chan." He smiled and reached out and gave her a warm hug.

"Hi Naruto-kun." She blushed and returned his smile and accepted his hug. "How did your tests go?"

"As far as we know, good. Shizune nee-san said that the data appeared normal but she had to examine it in the lab before she could be sure." Naruto explained.

"Oh, I see. When will we all know the results?" Hinata asked.

"About an hour, maybe a little more. Hopefully I'm all right so I can get out of here." Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah, that would be good." Hinata smiled back.

"For sure. I know a hospital room isn't the most fun place to hang out with someone. Where ever you wanna go, we'll go." Naruto smiled at the heiress.

"Ok." Hianta returned his smile.

Everyone in the room noticed their interaction and the look they gave each other, but everyone decided to keep their thoughts to themselves and save the teasing for later.

Naruto released Hinat from his hug and greeted everyone else with hugs and hand shakes. After greeting everyone he returned to Hinata's side, taking her small hand in his much larger one.

Sakura felt her heart skip a beat when she noticed their interlocking fingers and Hinata's slight blush, but she didn't understand why.

About an hour of talking and joking with everyone went by before Naruto decided to make his new secret known.

Naruto looked at everyone and his face became slightly more serious. "Everyone, I have an announcement to make."

"What kind of announcement?" Kiba asked curiously.

"What's up Naruto?" Sakura asked concerned.

"Alright, well I guess I should start with the beginning. Everyone knows the Yondaime sealed the Kyūbi inside of me by now, right?" He waited for everyone to nod. "Alright, first, thanks for everyone understanding. It means a lot to me that everyone is here." Everyone smiled once again.

"Anyway." Naruto continued. "Basically the seal lasted for about 16 years without being broken because I never got angry or sad enough to be tempted to remove it. I could access the Kyūbi's powers with the seal fully intact as long as my emotions didn't go out of control. When Hinata defended me from Pein and she nearly died, my anger and sadness exploded, causing the seal to fail and I released all nine tails of the Kyūbi's chakra. A few more seconds and it might have been too late to save me. But someone stopped me from destroying the seal completely." Naruto paused and squeezed Hinata's hand slightly. He began to get a little nervous.

"Who was is?" Ino asked legitimately curious.

"Yeah, you can tell us Naruto." Chōji added between eating chips.

Naruto remained silent for a moment, and then spoke. "The Yondaime."

Everyone except Shikamaru, Kakashi, and Hinata looked visibly surprised, but he continued.

"When he sealed the Kyūbi, he sealed part of his chakra with it so he could stop me from doing what I was about to do. He fixed the seal and then explained why he chose me. First reason is that a Bijū can only be sealed inside of newborn baby, which I was the only one at the time in Konoha. The second, and most important, reason was the Yondaime knew I was the only one in the world who would have the ability to completely master the Kyūbi's chakra."

"Why are you the only one who can control his chakra?" Kiba asked in confusion.

"It has to do with your parents doesn't it?" Shikamaru had figured it out long ago; listening to the story only confirmed his suspicions.

"That's right. The Uzumaki clan was a clan gifted with high chakra levels, stamina, and a very strong will. My mother was an Uzumaki. And members of my father's clan were also very strong willed and had powerful chakra. Only people with similar characteristics can control the Kyūbi's chakra, so my family were the only people who could do it in all of Konoha." Naruto continued to explain.

"Then who are your parents?" Rock Lee asked. "It had to have been some seriously powerful people full of energy and the power of youth to be able to save Konoha from the likes of the Kyūbi!"

"My mother was Kushina Uzumaki of the former Uzu no Kuni. My father was…" Naruto took a deep breath. "Minato Namikaze, also known as—"

"The Yondaime Hokage," Kakashi finished Naruto's sentence, "also known as Konoha's Yellow Flash."

Everyone but Hinata, Kakashi, Gai, Yamato and Shikamaru gasped at the revelation.

"No way…" Neji was essentially speechless. He had said Naruto was a no-body when they were younger, when in reality he was the son of the most powerful and most famous ninja in the history of Konoha.

"WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS NARUTO? _THE_ YONDAIME IS YOUR DAD!" Sakura asked yelling, shocked to say the least.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US SOONER?" Ino asked in a similar tone.

"Because I didn't know until he told me himself. It was kept a secret from the villagers and myself so I could lead a normal life. But it backfired. Those who knew about the Kyūbi never learned about my father so they treated me badly." Naruto explained.

"Oh… I see. I'm sorry for yelling. I wasn't mad, just surprised." Sakura responded, slightly embarrassed because of her yelling. "_And TOTALLY turned on" _Inner Sakura teased her normal self.

"Yeah, me too, sorry." Ino said.

"I understand." Naruto said smiling at both of them.

"Why don't you seem very surprised Hinata?" Kiba asked her. "This is kinda big news. Naruto is more or less the heir to the title of Hokage now that he has the lineage to back it all up."

"Well, that's because he told me last night when I came to visit him…" Hinata blushed remembering the events of the previous night, especially the hugs and kiss on the cheek.

"She asked how I regained control, so I told her. I would have told you all had you been there. Please don't take it personal guys." Naruto explained.

"No, it's cool. I was just curious." Kiba responded before donning a mischievous smirk. "Does this affect anything Hinata?" Teasing her for the first time since he saw the way she looked at Naruto.

Hinata blushed. She wasn't that nervous about being near Naruto, but when everyone was around them she became very embarrassed.

"N-no. I already t-told him how I felt when I tried to save him from Pein." Hinata began quiet, but soon was almost yelling her feelings. She looked at Naruto and wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close to her. "Please, believe me."

Naruto stared down at Hinata in slight confusion before smiling. "I know, you told me before even I knew he was my dad. I understand Hinata. Don't worry. Just because I'm the son of the Yondaime doesn't change anything. I'm still the same as before and that's never going to change; I can promise you that." He smiled at her.

Hinata looked up into Naruto's eyes and saw nothing but truth in what he said. "Ok." She looked down and realized where she was and got embarrassed. "EEP! Sorry!" She said as she pulled away from him blushing.

"It's ok, it didn't bother me at all." Naruto said to her reassuringly.

"Uh, hello?" Ino said wanting to regain the attention of the two. "There are other people here. Not that I don't think this is absolutely adorable."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that." Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

"No worries, I was just teasing." Ino smiled. "Like I said, it's cute!"

"Right, real cute. But I'd like to remind the two of you there is family in here." Neji added with a slight smirk.

"Do you truly care about that Neji? Look at the two of them! Young love at it's finest! What youthful energy!" Lee commented.

"You're absolutely right Lee! What a gloriously youthful sight to behold!" Gai agreed.

"Hmph, no not really. So long as Hinata-sama is happy, the Hyūga clan's honor remains intact, and Hiashi-sama does not mind, I don't object." Neji said with a grin. "Be warned Naruto, if you hurt my cousin, you will die where you stand."

"Right, I'll try to remember that." Naruto said nervously.

"Neji nii-san! We are merely spending time with each other as friends!" Hinata said correcting her cousin.

"Oh please." Neji rolled his eyes.

"That sounds like a story in a manga or something Hinata." Tenten added.

"Might as well man up and ask her out Naruto." Kiba added.

"I concur with Kiba. Why, you ask? Because you clearly have feelings for her, even if to you they are not obvious." Shino stated looking at Naruto.

"Guys, don't pressure him. I agreed to spend time with him first before he made a decision and that's the way it's going to happen." Hinata said to her friends.

"Whatever you say Hinata." Kiba shrugged. Shino just nodded.

"Anyway." Naruto thought they should move on from the current topic. "I hope this revelation doesn't change the way anyone treats me. I'm no different than I was before. Just because the Yondaime is my dad doesn't mean anything, alright?" He looked at all his comrades for confirmation.

"Naruto, nothing's changed. I respect you a hell of a lot more now if anything." Sai reached for Naruto's hand and shook it firmly.

"Right." They all nodded to show they agreed.

"Good." Naruto smiled at all of them. At that moment, Shizune walked in with the results.

"Oh my," Shizune said with a small laugh. "It's a tight fit, isn't it?"

"That's what she said!" Kiba joked. Everyone groaned at the joke, but eventually everyone laughed, including Shizune.

"I have the results for the tests. Everything seems fine. You can leave the hospital whenever you are ready Naruto." Shizune smiled. "Though I'd like it if you came back in two weeks for a check up."

"Yes! Alright!" Naruto jumped in the air, forgetting he was still holding Hinata's hand, "I'm so ready to get out of this place." He turned and hugged Hinata forgetting everyone was in the room again. Hinata blushed but laughed and congratulated Naruto along with everyone else.

The group prepared to leave the hospital, but stopped by Tsunade's room on the way out of the hospital.

Naruto approached his surrogate mother figure and held her hand for a moment before speaking. "Wake up soon baa-chan. Your village needs you."

When they exited the hospital, Kakashi said he'd pay for a bowl of ramen for each of the Konoha 11, plus Gai and Yamato, much to everyone's excitement.

Naruto and Hinata held hands in a comfortable silence all the way to Ichiraku's. The group had a good time celebrating before going their separate ways for the night. Naruto, Chōji, and Lee got into a ramen-eating contest, much to the entertainment of everyone, with Naruto emerging the victor by a half a bowl over Chōji and three bowls over Lee.

Despite the hardships everyone had been through recently, morale in Konoha was high. And it was about to get a much needed boost.

End CH 4

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><p>Well, there's CH 4! Hope everyone enjoyed it! Please review!<p>

Until next time,

CBM-1701


	5. Awakening

Hey everyone! Like I promised, I have Ch 5 ready for you all by the end of the day! It took me quite a while to get this one posted because I was having trouble with the editing and adding new content. I hope you all like it! Please review, I thank you all in advance for your contributions and helpful advice! Anyone who's already posted a review, thanks as well!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!**

Key:

"Speech"

**"Kyūbi and other large beings"**

_Thought_

"Normal Speech _Emphasis on a word _Normal Speech_"_

A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, please go easy on me. I'll accept any friendly advice you're willing to give to help make this story better. Thanks in advance!

**WARNING: THIS FANFIC IS RATED M FOR A REASON! THERE WILL BE BLOOD, GUTS, SEXUAL CONTENT, ETC. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

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><p>Ch 5: Awakening<p>

Naruto stared up at the ceiling of his newly rebuilt apartment thinking about the events of the past month with Hinata. The two of young shinobi had been spending as much time as possible with each other, always being within a few blocks of each other while helping to rebuild the village. Everyone had been their part to help rebuild the village, but Naruto made sure to set aside time with Hinata every day to talk and get to know each other better.

Their friendship slowly began to develop more with each passing day. And with each day, his feelings would become clearer to him and her feelings for him were just reinforced. The two would often be seen together at Ichiraku's eating or sitting together on a bench taking a break from reconstruction. He remembered one day when Tazuna and Inari from Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves) arrived in Konoha to help with repairs.

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><p><strong>-FLASHBACK-<strong>

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><p>Naruto and Hinata were taking their lunch break from their daily tasks of assisting with the repairs of Konoha. The two young shinobi were sitting under a tree near the edge of the village eating their respective lunches, talking, and most importantly enjoying each other's company while learning as much as possible about each other.<p>

They asked each other simple questions to start, like what their favorite color was or what their favorite food was. But eventually, the questions became more personal.

"So Hinata-chan… if you don't mind me asking, what's it like being the heiress to the most powerful clan in Konoha?" Naruto asked kind of nervously, he knew that in the past the Hyūga clan had many struggles between the main family and the branch family, as well as struggle within the main family about the topic of the branch family. He was afraid of opening up old wounds.

"Well," Hinata began trying to gather her thoughts, "for a while, it wasn't very pleasant to be completely honest. Otou-san was pretty hard on me when I was young. I was so timid and had no self-confidence, which caused my training to suffer. I could tell Otou-san was disappointed in my training, but I didn't think there was a whole lot I could do about it because I believed I was weak…

"But after the Chunin exams, he realized he had been too hard on me by comparing me to Neji nii-san and my younger sister who's personality was vastly different from my own. He apologized to me for treating me so badly, and told me I was proud of my performance against Neji nii-san, despite the fact that I lost. It made me so happy to know he didn't think of me as a weakling anymore." Hinata smiled in remembrance. "Now, I hope to change the ways of the Hyūga clan and eliminate the Caged Bird Seal and unite the main and branch families and strengthen the ties of our clan."

Naruto took a moment to let everything Hinata just said soak in before responding. "I never knew you had it so rough when we were little. You were always really shy, but you never seemed depressed or anything. I'm sorry that you had to go through all that. But, I'm glad that your relationship with your family has improved so much though." Naruto smiled at the young kunoichi with a new sense of appreciation and respect.

Hinata returned Naruto's smile and with in a hopeful tone she said, "Yeah, me too. Hopefully it only gets better from here."

"Yeah!" Naruto said confidently.

"So what about you Naruto-kun? If you don't mind me asking, what's it like living by yourself?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Why do you wanna know something like that?" Naruto asked confused.

"Well… when I was little, I thought about running away a couple of times. I thought that being on my own would be much easier for me to handle than constantly being put down by my family." Hinata explained.

"Oh, ok. Well, it's all right I guess. I don't really have anything to compare it to though. My parents were killed before I ever had a home so…" Naruto thought with a sad look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun… I shouldn't have asked…" Hinata felt bad for opening old wounds.

"No, it's ok. Don't worry about it. It wasn't that bad." Naruto placed his hand on hers and gave it a small, reassuring squeeze.

Hinata looked up at Naruto with a small blush, to which Naruto responded with his trademark gin, causing her to blush a little more, but she did manage to return his smile with one of her own. She flipped her hand and laced their fingers, earning a soft smile and a slight blush from the young blonde.

Hinata leaned back against the tree and shifted closer to Naruto so that she could lean against him and place her head on his shoulder, causing him to blush deeper at the contact. The two had held hands and hugged many times since the day at the hospital, but this small gesture was much more intimate to Naruto. Despite his initial uncomfortable feeling, he soon got used to the contact and thoroughly enjoyed it. The two sat for several minutes undisturbed, simply enjoying the moment, before they were interrupted by a voice familiar to Naruto.

"Naruto!"

The young shinobi looked up to see Inari and Tazuna walking towards him waving. "Inari! Tazuna jii-san! What are you guys doing here?" Naruto helped Hinata up off the ground and walked over to greet the two people he helped to protect on his very first mission.

"What do you think? We're here to help rebuild Konoha! After what you guys did for us, there's no way we're gonna sit back and do nothing to help you guys out." Tazuna said with a smirk.

"Really? That's great!" Naruto smiled at them.

"So Naruto, who's the babe? What happened to Sakura? Get tired of her constantly turning you down already?" Inari asked, teasing Naruto.

Hinata blushed at being called a 'babe' but recovered enough to introduce herself. "H-hello. I'm H-Hinata Hyūga. It's a p-pleasure to m-meet the two of you."

"Hello, little lady. I'm Tazuna, this here is my grandson, Inari. Your boyfriend here saved our asses a few years ago when he escorted me back to Nami no Kuni to complete the bridge that now connects our two countries." Tazuna smiled at the now blushing Hyūga.

"B-b-b-boyfriend?" Hinata's face now resembled a tomato in color.

Tazuna laughed at the kunoichi, "Easy there little lady. It was just a joke. Now, we better get going, we have a lot of work to do."

"Alright, we'll be seeing you around!" Naruto said with a smile.

"If you see Sakura and Sasuke, let them know we're here so they can come visit!" Inari said as they began to walk away.

Hinata looked up at Naruto and noticed his face change dramatically. He looked visibly upset at the mention of Sasuke's name. Hinata didn't know what to do, so she squeezed his hand to get his attention. When he finally looked down and saw Hinata's concerned look, he snapped out of his daze.

"Sorry Hinata-chan. I'm ok now." Naruto smiled.

"Are you sure?" Hinata remained concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…" He looked towards the main gate. _Sasuke… where are you?_

Hinata once again saw the distant look on Naruto's face. She knew there wasn't much she could do to help Naruto, but she would try her best to make him feel better. She released Naruto's hand and wrapped her arms around Naruto's slim waist and pulled him into a comforting hug, hoping that it would calm him down.

Naruto responded by wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. The two shinobi stood looking towards the main gate, holding each other close for several minutes before Naruto spoke again.

"Thanks Hinata-chan, I needed that." Naruto finally turned his head towards hers and smiled.

"You're welcome," was all Hinata said as she returned his thankful smile with her own smile.

Naruto felt as though he was being pulled towards the heiress as he stood in her arms. He looked at her beautiful, smiling face and felt the sudden urge to kiss Hinata's moist lips. It wasn't the first time he felt this urge, but it was the strongest it's ever been.

"Hinata-chan…?" Naruto said softly as he inched closed to the smiling kunoichi.

Hinata opened her eyes to see Naruto's face moving slowly towards her own. She blushed and became very nervous, but was ready for this.

"Naruto-kun…?" She said as she closed her eyes and inched towards the love of her life. The two were less than an inch from their first romantic kiss when…

"OI! Lunch break is over! Let's get back to work everyone!" a young Jonin called out to no one in particular, scaring Naruto and Hinata apart. The two ninja said their goodbyes to one another before both sulked back to their work places.

_Damn… so close…_ Hinata and Naruto both thought as the grudgingly began working on repairs.

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><p><strong>-END FLASHBACK-<strong>

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><p>Naruto was frustrated for a long time after that. The two were never alone together long enough to get back to where they left off. Someone always interrupted. Another time, the two had finally gotten the chance to be alone when Yamato showed up to inform Naruto that Shizune was looking for him. Naruto told him to go away. Yamato responded by using his signature glare and a neutral, yet very threatening, tone that scared both Naruto and Hinata enough to run away, seeking Shizune immediately.<p>

_Yamato-taicho… you're one scary bastard…_ Naruto thought with a shiver.

He was brought out of his memories by a loud knock at the door. He got up to find Shizune at the door looking rather tired and excited.

"Shizune nee-san, what's up?" Naruto asked concerned.

"It's Tsunade-sama! She might awaken any time now! We have to hurry! Everyone else is at the hospital or on their way, let's go!" Shizune said panting.

Without another word, the two shinobi took off towards the hospital. They leapt from rooftop to rooftop at top speed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

When they entered, they saw Tsunade laying on a bed unconscious with all his friends standing around the room.

"She looks much better than before. Her youth has even started to return." Sakura noted with a small smile.

"Yeah, that's a good sign." Kakashi said slightly relieved that he would no longer be forced to be the acting Hokage. He had been up for nomination for the position along with Danzo (who was the original choice for Tsunade's temporary or permanent replacement) but was given the position by the Land of Fire's Daimyō when he expressed concern about the old war hawk's ambitions. Kakashi honestly hated the job and hoped that Tsunade would awaken soon.

Naruto walked over to the side of the bed. Hinata followed and grabbed his hand to offer her support. Naruto smiled at Hinata and pulled her into a warm hug. After the hug, Naruto looked down at Tsunade and began to speak.

"Hi Tsunade baa-chan. It's me, Naruto. I'm not sure if you can hear me, but everyone is fine here. The village is being rebuilt, the Kyūbi is sealed within me still, and I even have myself a date later tonight." Naruto smiled at Hinata and squeezed her hand lightly, causing Hinata to blush lightly. "You need to wake up soon so you can get back to work already, the village needs its' leader. Get better soon, I love ya."

Naruto placed a hand on the Hokage's for a moment before he started to back away from the bed. He looked at Hinata who gave him a soft smile of approval. Then, they heard something they didn't expect to.

"Na…Naru…to…" Tsunade spoke softly as she began to stir.

"Tsunade baa-chan! Please don't talk! You've been in a coma. Shizune nee-san! She's waking up!" Naruto yelled in excitement.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune ran to her side and checked her vitals; she was indeed waking up. "I have to go get some medicine to help stabilize her condition! I'll be right back! Please, try to keep her awake!" Shizune yelled as she ran off.

"Right. Um, Tsunade baa-chan, can you open your eyes for me? Look it's me, Naruto!" Naruto said trying to keep Tsunade conscious by using whatever ridiculous tactics you could imagine: funny faces, ridiculous poses, etc., but nothing he tried was working. Tsunade would open her eyes slightly and try to stay awake but to no avail. She was very weak, it took all her energy just to try to keep her eyes open for a few seconds before they shut again.

"I've gotta think of something to shock her awake!" Naruto thought for a moment before yelling, "I've got it!" He grabbed Hinata's hand once more and pulled her towards the bed.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked in confusion. "W-What are you doing?"

"Sorry Hinata-chan, I hope you can forgive me for this. Tsunade baa-chan, watch this." He waited for Tsunade to open an eye again, turned to Hinata and pulled her close and kissed her on the lips passionately, much to the embarrassment Hinata and surprise of everyone else in the room.

"Oi! This is a hospital for Kami-sama's sake! No Frenching allowed!" Kiba yelled at Naruto. "Get a room or something for Kami-sama's sake! Freakin' perverted bastard! I expected better from you Naruto!"

"Idiot, he's trying to increase Tsunade's blood flow and stimulate her metabolism in order to keep her awake." Neji explained. "Though I do wish he had done it another way."

Naruto ended the kiss, much to his dismay and turned to see Tsunade's eye's wide open and a look of shock on her face.

"Oh good, you're awake now!" Naruto said with a laugh and a small blush.  
>"What is the meaning of this?" Tsunade asked as she sat up slightly.<p>

"Sorry Tsunade baa-chan, had to shock you to keep you awake so you didn't go back into the coma. Although, what happened wasn't entirely untrue…" He just in time turned to see Hinata's bright red face before she began falling backwards into Ino and Sakura's arms. "Hinata-chan! Are you ok? I'm so sorry!"

"Naruto you idiot! Look what you did!" Sakura yelled.

"He just surprised Hinata, that's all. It's not like she didn't like it." Ino tried to stand up for Naruto, patting him on the back to congratulate him. "Way to go Naruto!"

"Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan!" Naruto tried to snap Hinata out of her shock.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She finally awoke; she blushed again remembering the kiss. "D-did you…d-did we j-just…?"

"Yup, our first kiss." Naruto interrupted her. "Sorry it was like that but it worked! Look, she's awake!"

Hinata stood up and looked at the bed. "Hokage-sama! You're awake! Ano… N-Naruto-kun and I are kind of d-dating…but we aren't a couple! T-though I do hope that you can approve of me if we do become a couple." Hinata realized she was rambling so she paused and took a breath and bowed to the now awake Hokage. "We're all so glad you're awake!" She smiled warmly at the Hokage.

"Y-yeah, sure." Tsunade blinked at the young Hyūga. "Where the hell is Shizune? SHIZUNE! Get in here and clear me from this place so I can get back to work. I can't rebuild a village if I can't move, can I?"

"Right here Tsunade-sama! I had to go get some medicine for you to help give you more strength, here." She handed Tsunade the medicine, which Tsunade completely drank immediately, shuddering at its' terrible flavor.

"What's been going on? How long have I been out?" Tsunade asked, looking at Naruto holding Hinata's hand.

"Almost two months. The village is being rebuilt as we speak. Most of it was destroyed. Naruto defeated Pein, but not before going full Kyūbi when Pein severely wounded Hinata. The Yondaime's seal remains intact, thanks to the efforts of his father." Shikamaru explained.

"Minato? How did he do that? Wait, how do you guys know about—?" Tsunade began but was interrupted by Naruto.

"He told me himself that he was my dad. He sealed part of himself with the Kyūbi in order to protect me from doing what I almost did." Naruto informed Tsunade.

"I see." Tsunade said looking at Naruto again. _He looks tired and…more mature than before. Was it almost losing control of the Kyūbi that did this? Or is it Hinata's doing?_

"Wha'cha lookin' at?" Naruto asked with a confused look on his face.

"Huh? Nothing. You look happy, Hinata's doing I assume?" Tsunade teased her surrogate son.

Naruto blinked then smiled with a small blush. "Yeah, that's right. And you waking up too."

Tsunade smiled at that. "Right. Anything else?"

"Not really. Right now all ninja are either recovering from his or her injuries or helping to rebuild the village." Yamato answered the Hokage.

"The Akamichi clan is rebuilding our sector of the village including land that isn't ours." Chōji reported. "Our estate was completely destroyed, but we're doing fine with the temporary shelters until we can focus on rebuilding it."

"The Nara clan is doing the same, even though the work is completely troublesome." Shikamaru also reported.

"The Hyūga clan's estate was damaged, but not as severely as others. Repairs have already been completed and we are assisting with the repairs of the downtown area," Neji said calmly and Hinata nodded to confirm.

"The Yamanaka clan is helping the Hyūga's with rebuilding the downtown area." Ino reported with a nod at Hinata and Neji.

"The Aburame clan is patrolling the around Konoha preventing anyone suspicious or unusual from entering the area as well as escorting the architects, construction workers, and engineers to areas with good timber to help Yamato-taicho with supplying wood." Shino informed the Hokage.

"The Inuzuka's are rebuilding our estate. It was completely destroyed. It'll take a while before we can assist anyone else." Kiba growled in annoyance.

"The ANBU are patrolling the outskirts as well as keeping an eye out on the inside. The Godaime Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, sent reinforcements two weeks ago to help rebuild Konoha as well as improve defenses around and in Konoha. Gaara said he'd be coming to Konoha personally, with his siblings Kankuro and Temari, at the end of the week. He and the other Kage have called a meeting that will be held at the end of the month in Tetsu no Kuni (Land of Iron). He wishes to accompany you and your escorts there." Kakashi explained.

"A Kage Summit? What for?" Tsunade was confused.

Kakashi thought for a moment if he should say what happened in front of everyone, but decided it was better now than later.

"Apparently, Sasuke and three others attacked the Raikage's brother, Killer Bee, Jinchuriki of the Hachibi no Kyogyuu. They attempted to capture Killer Bee, who escaped but has not returned to Kumogakure for whatever reason. The Raikage is calling for immediate action against Sasuke and the Akatsuki." Kakashi explained.

"What?" Tsunade asked in anger.

"Sasuke!" Naruto growled in anger. "What are you thinking you bastard?"

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata looked at Naruto with a sad face. She held his hand closer to her.

Naruto looked down at her and smiled sadly. "Sorry Hinata-chan, I'll calm down. I'm just mad that Sasuke would do something that stupid. I swear I'll kick his ass! That bastard! I'll fucking kick his ass!"

Sakura began to cry. Ino walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Sakura looked up at her and gave her a hug.

"It's extremely troublesome, but if my guess is right, and it usually is, Sasuke will be declared an international villain and a Missing Nin. And once captured, charged for his crimes and ultimately—" Shikamaru was cut off.

"Executed for them." Kakashi finished.

Everyone was silent for a few moments before Naruto spoke. "Well then, I guess that means that we have to get to Sasuke first."

"What? You still plan on trying to save him after everything he's done?" Shikamaru asked in surprise.

"No, I plan on kicking his ass! After that, if he won't listen, then I'll do whatever the Kage's decide to do to him myself. If they want him imprisoned, I'll be his prison guard. If they want him dead, I'll be his executioner. Either way, it's my responsibility as the one who let him get away." Naruto spoke very seriously.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said very quietly, concerned for her love.

"No Naruto! It's not your fault! I'm just as much to blame as you are! I couldn't convince him to stay! I wasn't even able to stop him with words or through force!" Sakura yelled as she cried. "I'm the one who let him get away! You don't have to carry this burden alone! You've done enough and gone through far too much for this, for me. I can't let you do it alone."

Naruto turned to Sakura with a sad and understanding, yet determined look on his face. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan, but it looks like I'm not gonna be able to keep my promise this time. I'll still bring him back to Konoha, but he'll most likely no longer be amongst the living because—."

"NO! Don't say it." Sakura begged as tears streamed down her face.

"If he won't listen, I might have no other choice but to kill him myself." Naruto continued, finishing rather coldly and deathly serious. He didn't want to hurt Sakura, but he couldn't afford to be soft with her either. He couldn't sugar coat anything because he wanted her to be strong.

Sakura fell to her knees unable to stand any longer, tears falling like a waterfall from her eyes onto the white hospital floor.

Naruto walked to Sakura and placed a hand on her shoulder, showing that his understanding.

"I'm sorry, I'll try to convince him first. But if he's attacked a fellow Jinchuriki, he probably won't listen to me. I just want you to be prepared for the worst." He turned and walked away to leave her with Ino, who nodded at him acknowledging what he did as appropriate.

"Shizune-sama, we have urgent—! OH HOKAGE-SAMA! YOU'RE AWAKE!" An ANBU came into the room and immediately bowed.

"Yes, I am. Now what's so urgent?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes ma'am! Itachi Uchiha has been killed. We have several sources stating that Sasuke Uchiha defeated him in a fight shortly before attacking Killer Bee of Kumogakure. We are currently examining Itachi's corpse for any information." The ANBU reported.

"What? Itachi? Sasuke killed him?" Kakashi asked shocked.

"Yes, it seems that way Kakashi-senpai. It is certainly Itachi and there were traces of Sasuke's chakra at the site of the battle." The ANBU replied.

"First Orochimaru, now Itachi. How strong has Sasuke become?" Tsunade bit her lip in annoyance causing it to bleed slightly.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore; he had to get out of there before any more bad news came. "I'll see you guys later, I gotta go think." He turned and tried to leave but Hinata stopped him.

"I'm not letting you go alone." She told Naruto.

Naruto looked down at Hinata and smiled slightly. "Ok. But please, I need a little space."

"I understand. I just don't want to leave you alone." Hinata said gripping Naruto's hand tightly to show her support and concern.

"Naruto…" Tsunade began to say before Naruto interrupted.

"Don't worry, I'll be ok. I just need some time to think. I'll talk to you all after I've figured everything out. Later." He said to everyone with a small wave.

Naruto turned and walked out of the room before anyone could say anything with Hinata at his side.

"Is he going to be ok?" Chōji asked.

"Yeah, he's strong. He'll be ready to go in a few hours. You'll see." Shikamaru said with confidence. "But still, this is really troublesome for this to happen right now of all times. What a drag."

"You can say that again. I've never seen him so happy since I've known him. And I was there that time he won the ramen eating contest before he left with Jiraya." Tsunade said with a smile, causing everyone to chuckle.

"What are your orders, Tsunade-sama?" Sai asked of the Hokage, who looked at Sai confused.

"You're the Hokage, remember?" Kakashi said jokingly.

"Right. Shikamaru, I'll put you in charge of this for now. Think up several strategies and teams capable of tracking down and stopping Sasuke. But leave Naruto and Hinata out of it for now. Sakura too, she's emotionally compromised." Tsunade ordered.

"Mind if I ask why Naruto and Hinata, Lady Tsunade?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm going to see about finding him Killer Bee of Kumogakure to teach him to control that damned fox. And I need and escort to the Kage Summit. When the Kazekage and his siblings arrive, inform me immediately. I'll be in my office." She ordered the ANBU.

"Yes Ma'am!" he disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"Now then, get me the hell out of here so I can get back to work leading this village. A lot has happened and my village needs me." Tsunade stood up and everyone immediately blushed or fell to the floor with blood dripping from their nose.  
>"What's that all about?" Tsunade asked no one in particular.<p>

"Um…Tsunade-sama…you're um…you're kinda naked." Shizune said as she tried not to laugh.

Tsunade looked down to find her hospital robe completely open and her body exposed for the world to see. Her ample and surprisingly perky breasts with small, pink nipples standing erect because of the cold hospital air were the center of attention along with the small tuff of blonde hair just above her female parts.

She blushed and covered up immediately and then glared at every man in the room with a look that could have killed if she didn't hold back any. "You will forget this EVER happened. Dismissed."

"YES MA'AM!" They all said in unison and ran for it, fearing her wrath.

"Yeah right, like we could forget _that _hot body. What do you think Shikamaru? EE-cup maybe? Or bigger?" Kakashi asked smiling a perverted smile.

"Shut up! I don't wanna die!" Shikamaru said running faster now.

Kakashi couldn't help but laugh his ass off. "Kid, you're gonna be in big trouble when you finally get together with that Suna chick, Temari right?" He teased.

"Shut up! It's not like that!" Shikamaru tried to deny, but the blush he was sporting said otherwise.

As the day went on, everyone was busy preparing for the possible confrontation with Sasuke in his or her own way. But from the shadows, Danzo watched and formulated his own plan to gain control of Konoha and, ultimately, the world.

"Even if Tsunade-hime has awakened, I will not miss my chance to act." He walked towards his hideout to formulate his own plan to capture the renegade Uchiha and the newest hero of Konoha.

End Ch 5

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><p>Well, that was my longest chapter so far. It really took a lot to get this chapter up to an acceptable length. Hope everyone liked it! Please review! Expect chapters 6, 7, and possibly 8 tomorrow!<p>

Until next time,

CBM-1701


	6. Frustrations and Release

Hey guys and gals, sorry for the late update. I had some internet problems yesterday and decided to re-edit the chapter I had written and decided that I hated it. So i rewrote it completely. Anyway, here's CH 6, let me know what you think! Be sure to review, please and thanks!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!**

Key:

"Speech"

**"Kyūbi and other large beings"**

_Thought_

"Normal Speech _Emphasis on a word _Normal Speech_"_

A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, please go easy on me. I'll accept any friendly advice you're willing to give to help make this story better. Thanks in advance!

**WARNING: THIS FANFIC IS RATED M FOR A REASON! THERE WILL BE BLOOD, GUTS, SEXUAL CONTENT, ETC. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

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><p>CH 6: Frustrations and Release<p>

Naruto and Hinata had gone outside the walls of the village to give the blonde shinobi some space to think. He had sat on a rock for over an hour, perfectly still. Hinata sat watching him from a few yards away. She noted that red-orange circles appeared under Naruto's eyes, meaning he had entered Sage Mode for some reason. She assumed that it was somehow easier to think that way; maybe he was at peace in that form or something. She wanted nothing more than to walk up to Naruto and hold him and tell him everything would be ok, but she understood that Naruto needed space right now. So she stayed where she was, watching and waiting for Naruto to move.

After about an hour, Naruto stood and walked over to Hinata. His sage chakra had yet to dissipate, so the rings around his eyes and the golden iris' were still there. She thought he looked strong like that, but she preferred his normal, blue eyes much more.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting. I'm alright now." Naruto smiled at her.

"It's alright. You sure you're alright Naruto-kun?" Hinata reached for his hand and held it tightly. "Because I'll understand if you need a little more time to think about everything."

"Yeah… I'll be ok." Naruto said, trying to reassure Hinata. Unfortunately for Naruto, Hinata wasn't buying his fake smile. She'd seen it many when Naruto was hurt but tried to act strong for the people around him. She knew he was hurting, but she didn't know how to help.

"Naruto-kun, please don't lie to me. I know you're hurt, I can see it on your face and in your eyes. You're hurt by what Sasuke's done to you, to everyone in the village. I understand that. But you don't have to act so strong all the time." Hinata said trying to get Naruto to open up to her about his problems.

Naruto was reluctant to show any weakness to anyone, let alone Hinata. He had refused to show anyone that side of him from the time he was little, when villagers constantly harassed him because of his tenant. He stopped crying in front of other people because when the people didn't see tears, they would leave him alone. He built up a barrier over the years and he was afraid to let it down, especially to someone he cared deeply about. At the same time, he knew he could trust Hinata with what he was feeling at the moment because of Sasuke's betrayal. It wasn't the first time she had seen him cry, nor was it the first time that he had made his doubts about himself known to her. But the fear of the past was causing an internal struggle about what to do.

Hinata could see the battle raging within Naruto's very soul through his piercing blue eyes as he starred off into the distance. She wanted into this part of Naruto's life, not because she believed it would bring them closer, but because she knew he probably didn't have anyone that he felt comfortable talking to about his problems, even though she could think of at least a dozen people off the top of her head that would be more than willing to listen.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said, reaching her hand to cup his cheek to turn his gaze towards her own. "Please, let me help you. You're not alone anymore. You have friends more than willing to help you come to terms with your thoughts and feelings. You don't have to hold it in anymore, you can trust us…you can trust me."

Naruto starred down at Hinata's pale lavender eyes and saw all the love and compassion she held for him as if it was written for him and the world to see. She truly wanted to help him, and Naruto knew he could trust her. So why was he hesitating? He couldn't understand it. He wanted nothing more than to break down in tears and tell her everything he was feeling at the moment.

"Hinata-chan… I'm—I'm not very good at this kind of thing. I haven't let that side of me be seen by anyone in a long time. And I'm afraid to let anyone in, even those I care about as much as I care about you." Naruto explained the reason why he wasn't revealing his thoughts to her.

"I understand. I know it's hard, but you can't just keep all of those feelings inside; it's not good for your health or your soul. We all want to help you Naruto-kun. But you have to let us." Hinata said with a soft, caring smile. "Let me help you."

Naruto continued to gaze into Hinata's loving eyes as she spoke. After a few minutes of silence, he smiled lightly and shook his head before taking her hand off his face and interlocking their fingers. "Shikamaru's right, you women are very troublesome. But I don't think I'd have it any other way."

Hinata giggled lightly, "Does that mean you'll tell me what's wrong?"

"Yeah." Naruto said as he began to walk with Hinata next to him towards the Hokage monument. If he was going to spill his thoughts and feelings about everything that just happened with Sasuke to Hinata, he wanted to be alone and at the place that calmed him the most.

Hinata didn't know where Naruto was going, but figured it was somewhere more private so not everyone would see him in a vulnerable state. She was glad Naruto was letting her into this part of his life, and hoped that after this he'd be able to open up more easily and to more people. But she also silently celebrated her victory of being the first person Naruto was going to open up to about his problems.

The two walked in silence until they reached the monument, when Naruto picked Hinata up in his arms bridal style and jumped to the top of the monument with just three jumps, leaving Hinata amazed.

"How did you do that?" Hinata asked wide-eyed.

"Training with toads helps." Naruto said with a smirk.

Hinata giggled, "I bet it would. I've never seen anyone jump that high before."

"Ero-sennin could get up here in two jumps, he always beat me in jumping contests. He could beat some of the toads on a good day." Naruto said with a small smile remembering Jiraya.

"You miss him, don't you?" Hinata asked knowingly.

"Yeah," Naruto simply said as he turned to look out over the village.

Hinata followed Naruto's line of vision and was awestruck at the view. She had never been to the top of the monument before, but she could see why Naruto would come here to be alone. The view was absolutely breath taking.

"Beautiful." Hinata said with a smile as she looked out over the village as engineers and architects worked hard to repair the damage done during Pein's invasion.

"You should see it when the village isn't a wreck." Naruto said knowing fully how much better it looked at night.

"I'm sure I will," Hinata said, turning her attention back to the blonde whose arms she was currently in. It was then that she noticed he was still carrying her. She became embarrassed and blushed lightly, "A-ano… Naruto-kun? You can put me down if you want… I know I'm probably heavy."

Naruto looked down and realized that he was still holding Hinata and blushed bright red. He looked away in embarrassment before saying, "N-no, you're not heavy at all. But if you want me to put you down I will."

"N-no, I was just worried about you. I don't mind… but it might be easier to talk if you did…" Hinata responded. She was thoroughly enjoying her time in Naruto's arms, but now wasn't the time to be thinking of herself. She was here for Naruto and she was going to try to concentrate on the task at hand, regardless of how romantic the setting and view was.

"Y-yeah, you're probably right." Naruto said as he reluctantly put down the Hyūga clan heiress.

"So… what are you gonna do Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, figuring that she would have to start the conversation about Sasuke.

"…To be honest… I don't know, Hinata-chan." Naruto said with a sad look.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked, stimulating further response.

"Sasuke was my best friend, the only person our age who acknowledged me for a long time." Naruto began. "He was my rival, but he was so much better than me at first. He pushed me to get stronger so I could beat him one day. I worked every day for hours so that he would look at me as someone who could help him get stronger too. I finally felt like I caught up to him enough to actually provide a challenge to Sasuke during the Chunin Exams. But instead of being excited for the challenge and happy for a friend who could make him stronger, he got jealous at how fast I improved. All I ever wanted was for him to acknowledge me as a worthy opponent and a friendly rival.

"After I brought back Tsunade baa-chan to fix Sasuke and Gejimayu (fuzzy-brows [Rock Lee]), he got even madder at me. I didn't understand why he was so mad, so jealous that I had become strong enough to be a good rival. He called me weak, a failure, and a drop out… I couldn't take it anymore! So I tried to shut him up and prove to him I wasn't weak. We fought on the roof of the hospital, and Sakura-chan tried to interfere with the fight and almost got killed by my Rasengan and Sasuke's Chidori. But Kakashi-sensei stopped us.

"After that, Sasuke was really cocky about how much damage his Chidori had done to the front of a water tower he hit with his Chidori. I was kind of upset that the damage my Rasengan caused to a different water tower was so small in comparison. But Kakashi-sensei later told me that my Rasengan had completely destroyed the back of the water tower and that Sasuke likely saw it and was pissed. It wasn't too long after that when Sasuke left Konoha forever. Instead of our rivalry bringing us together as friendly rivals, it tore us apart and made us enemies." Naruto finished with a stray tear streaming down his right cheek.

Hinata too had tears rolling down her cheeks, understanding the need to be accepted by those around you.

"It's hard when someone like that betrays you. I want nothing more than to bring him back here and have things go back to the way they were before, but that's not realistic anymore. I understand that now. Maybe when he was still with Orochimaru, but not anymore. He's attacked a fellow Jinchuriki and became allies with the very organization that wants to capture me and take the Kyūbi out of me to use for who knows what, I can guarantee it's not good." Naruto said while clenching his fists. "I know what I should do… no, what I _have_ to do. But knowing and doing are two different things."

"What is it you think you have to do to bring him back?" Hinata asked, though she knew where he was going.

"…There's probably only three ways this could happen. The first way is I beat him within an inch of his life and drag his ass back to Konoha. The second way is I kill him and drag his ass back to Konoha, which would probably result in Sakura-chan hating me for the rest of my life, which I'm willing to accept if it means preventing more death. And the final way is that I get killed or captured because I'm not strong enough or because I hesitate to kill him if necessary, which right now is the most likely." Naruto said with a serious face.

"How could you say something like that? You don't think you can beat him?" Hinata was shocked that Naruto thought he couldn't beat Sasuke right now.

"Not if I can't kill him…" Naruto said with no confidence.

"And why not?" Hinata was getting angry now. She couldn't believe that Naruto would think of himself as weak. She never wanted to hit Naruto before, but if he said one more thing like that she just might.

"Because he won't give up until he's dead, and I'm not sure if I'm capable of killing someone who's the closest thing to a brother that I've ever had." Naruto said sadly.

The anger that had slowly been building inside Hinata dissipated with Naruto's last statement. She understood; it's not that Naruto thought he was too weak to kill Sasuke, he wasn't sure if he could kill someone as close to him as Sasuke was. It'd be like asking him to kill Master Jiraya or Lady Tsunade.

"I understand," Hinata said after a moment. "I have faith that when the time comes…you'll make the right choice, whatever that choice is. I'll stand by you no matter what, for whatever you need, always." She finished with a smile.

Hinata's smile and declaration to always stand by his side took Naruto's breath away. It amazed him how much love she held for him deep within those pale lavender eyes of hers. He felt like an idiot for never noticing it before she told him. He took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist and pulled her close to him.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan. That means a lot to me. I just hope you're right." Naruto said, the tears slowly trickling down his face.

"You're welcome, Naruto-kun. You'll beat him and bring him back here to face what he has done, one way or the other. Besides, you won't be alone." Hinata said trying to boost his confidence.

Naruto remembered his friends who had always stood by his side. They were more than willing to help train him for his fight with the Uchiha traitor, as well as to fight alongside him to help defeat him if necessary. But Naruto was going to make sure he could take down Sasuke on his own, so no one else would be put in danger.

"Yeah, I know." Naruto said with a smile. "Everyone will help me get stronger so I can beat him. You'll be there."

"Forever, no matter what happens." Hinata returned his smile.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He wrapped his arms around Hinata's slender waist and pulled her close to him and let the tears stream down his face like never before. He had spent countless hours sitting atop the Hokage monument looking outside the village walls for any sign of Sasuke, only to be let down every single time. All the pent up emotions he had been feeling for the past few years about Sasuke were finally set free.

Hinata responded by wrapping her arms around Naruto and pulling him closer, allowing him to rest his head on her shoulder. She allowed him to cry in peace, simply stroking his back to calm him down once he had finished the display of emotions. She felt bad for making him cry like that, even though she had no control over the reason he was crying. But she was determined to help him come to a decision about Sasuke once and for all. She felt him start to pull away and looked up to see him wiping his tears.

"Sorry about that, I guess I kinda lost it for a minute." Naruto said, embarrassed.

"Don't apologize. You needed that, and I wanted to help. There's no shame in crying." Hinata said with a small, reassuring smile. "Feeling better now?"

"Yeah, I am. Thank you for that, Hinata-chan. It means a lot." He responded with a smile of his own.

"Anything for you, Naruto-kun." Hinata said, "Do you know what you have to do now?"

"Yeah, I've gotta train hard so I can kick Sasuke's ass and drag him back to Konoha!" Naruto declared with confidence.

"Good," Hinata said, placing a warm kiss on Naruto's cheek, "That's the Naruto-kun I know!"

Naruto blushed bright red and touched the spot Hinata kissed before turning his head away in embarrassment, much to Hinata's pleasure. She was glad it was Naruto that was the one left blushing and embarrassed instead of her for once. She decided to continue her boldness and Naruto's embarrassment by pulling him closer and laying her head against his chest before saying, barely loud enough for Naruto to hear, "…and love."

Naruto's heart began to race, and he knew why. He understood why he felt this way around Hinata, why he wanted to hold her… kiss her so badly every time they spent time together. He knew now that he cared for Hinata not simply as a friend, but something more…

Hinata never expected Naruto to respond in the way he did. She expected him to pull her closer and whisper a soft 'thank you', maybe spend a little time cuddling as they looked out at the village as the sun began to set to the west, only to end the night in the same limbo they always did… but she was wrong.

Naruto pulled away from Hinata and looked deep into her eyes, as if to confirm the feelings she had for him… and that he had for her. He saw Hinata start to fidget under his gaze, becoming slightly embarrassed by starring into his eyes for so long. Eventually, once Naruto was satified with what he saw in Hinata's eyes and what he felt within his very core, he ended his gaze in favor of something…better.

Hinata didn't have much time to react before she felt Naruto's lips crash gently into her own. It was a completely new sensation for her, but she enjoyed it thoroughly. His lips were rough against her own, but not unpleasantly so. Her whole body tingled, rippling out from the epicenter that was her lips. The contact lasted only a moment before Naruto pulled away slightly, which Hinata hungrily gave chase soon after. She pressed her lips against his once again; craving the contact like nothing she craved before.

Naruto, who hadn't had enough time to register the feeling of their first _real_ kiss, was delighted that Hinata gave chase when he retreated to plant a kiss of her own on his lips. He was surprised at how soft Hinata's lips felt against his. He had never felt so alive before in his life, and it felt good to feel this way. This kiss lasted only a moment longer than the first, but left both shinobi breathless.

Naruto didn't know what to say as he starred into Hinata's eyes once again. There was so much he wanted to say, but couldn't articulate his thoughts enough to say it. Luckily for him, he received more time to think as Hinata hungrily pressed her lips against his for a third time. The sensation of her soft, moist lips pressed against his own continued to amaze him. Something so simple had profound consequences on his senses.

When their third shared kiss ended Hinata locked eyes with Naruto once more, begging for him to express the emotions that she saw in his cobalt eyes. Naruto was more than happy to comply with her wordless request when Naruto once again pressed his lips against hers.

The two blindly made there way to the wall that was the mountain behind them, Hinata's back leaning against the mountain and Naruto pressed close to her as the two continued their kiss. Hinata couldn't believe this was happening. She had dreamed of Naruto kissing her this way for so long, she was afraid this was a dream. She backed away enough to look into Naruto's eyes before speaking.

"Naruto-kun…?" she said with a blush staining her cheeks.

"Yes, Hinata-chan…?" Naruto said with a blush of his own.

"This…this isn't a dream, is it?" She asked, almost frightened.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle before leaning in to capture Hinata's lips once more. He only made contact for a brief moment before backing away to ask, "What do you think?"

"If it is, it's the most realistic dream I've ever had and I _never_ want it to end." Hinata said as she pressed her lips to his once more.

Naruto backed away enough to say, "Me either," before going back for more. He couldn't get enough of this, neither could. But both knew they eventually would have to. Unfortunately for the two of them, that time was sooner than they thought.

"Naruto, you up here? Tsuade-sama said to come find you and that you'd probably be up here. She said that she'd like to talk to y—." Yamato failed to finish his sentence as he walked up to find Naruto and Hinata, leaning against the side of the mountain kissing.

The arrival of Yamato scared both shinobi apart from each other, causing Hinata to faint in embarrassment.

"Great! Just great! Tell Tsunade baa-chan to shove it! Can't you see that I'm busy?" Naruto yelled at Yamato.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but orders are orders. Please go straight to Tsunade-sama's office." Yamato said, trying to diffuse the young, angry blonde.

"Fuck that! I'm staying right here!" Naruto said as he sat down next to Hinata's unconscious body.

"Naruto," Yamato said as he placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Are you disobeying a direct order from the Hokage?" He asked while activating his 'Yamato Glare'.

"N-no…" Naruto managed to say.

"That's good, because I was worried I might have to do something terrible to get you to go." Yamato said as he increased the threat in his voice.

"That won't be necessary!" He said as he ran full speed towards the Hokage tower, Hinata in his arms, leaving Yamato as far behind as he could.

_I'm going to have to have a good, long talk to Tsunade baa-chan about interrupting me when I'm busy…_ Naruto thought angrily as he ran towards the tower. He looked down at the sleeping Hinata and smiled. _Well, I guess it's not that bad._

End CH 6_  
><em>

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><p>Well, there's chapter 6! I hope everyone liked it. I couldn't really think of a way to end the chapter, so I just left it here. Basically chapter 7 will be a continuation of chapter 6. Because I rewrote this chapter, I have to rewrite chapter 7 as well. So expect an update either tomorrow night or Monday night, Tuesday at the latest. Let me know what you think everyone! Please review, thanks in advance.<p>

Until next time,

CBM-1701_  
><em>


	7. Beginnings of an Alliance

Hey everyone, sorry it's a little later than I promised, but here's chapter 7! I had it mostly finished yesterday, but I fell asleep last night before I could finish and post it. But at least it's done now, right? Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Once again, chapter 8 will be a continuation of this chapter and chapter 6. There's a little fluff, but this is starting to head more towards the serious side of the story. We do get to see how protective Hinata gets around Naruto though. So don't worry, there will still be some fluff when the action starts. Please, don't forget to review to let me know how I'm doing.

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><p>AN: Very quickly, just let me remind everyone that this is a fanfic so not everything that is in the manga/anime will be the same. I'll try to keep the characters as close to the manga/anime as possible, but there will probably be slight differences in behavior and whatnot. No one has done this yet, but just letting everyone know ahead of time.

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!<strong>

Key:

"Speech"

**"Kyūbi and other large beings"**

_Thought_

"Normal Speech _Emphasis on a word _Normal Speech_"_

A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, please go easy on me. I'll accept any friendly advice you're willing to give to help make this story better. Thanks in advance!

**WARNING: THIS FANFIC IS RATED M FOR A REASON! THERE WILL BE BLOOD, GUTS, SEXUAL CONTENT (including eventual lemons), ETC. So don't get mad at me if you don't like that stuff because YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

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><p>Ch 7: Beginnings of an Alliance<p>

Naruto landed in front of the newly rebuilt Hokage tower, still carrying the unconscious Hinata in his arms. He looked down at her sleeping form and sighed at the unfortunate luck he seemed to have when it came to spending alone time with the Hyūga heiress.

_At least this time we actually kissed._ He thought with a smile and a light blush as he made his way into the tower.

He quickly made his way to the stairs to the next floor where Tsunade's office was. He had walked these stairs many times and despite the total destruction of the building during his battle with Pein, it looked the same as it always had. It was almost as if Pein had never attacked Konoha at all, and part of Naruto wished for that to be true. However Naruto knew that if Pein had never invaded, he would most likely have never found out about Hinata's love for him, at least not as soon as he did.

The thought of that scared Naruto. The past few months with Hinata had been some of the best memories he had, especially the memories from the last few minutes. He could still feel Hinata's velvety, moist lips pressed lovingly and passionately against his own, their arms wrapped possessively around one another, and the compassion and desire she held for him in her pale, lavender eyes. It had been a brief exchange, no more than a few minutes before Yamato interrupted them, but one that would forever change their lives…and he couldn't wait for more.

As he came to the top of the stairs he saw Shizune sitting at her desk just outside the Hokage's office.

"Hey Shizune nee-san, is baa-chan in there? I heard the old hag wanted something from me." Naruto said loudl, hoping Tsunade would hear him.

"Hello Naruto." Shizune said with a nervous smile, "No she's not, she's actually—" She pointed in Naruto's direction, but was interrupted before she could complete her warning to the orange-clad ninja.

"NA~RU~TO~!" Tsunade yelled from behind him, loud enough to shake the tower slightly.

Naruto was startled by Tsunade yelling directly behind him and consequently jumped about five feet in the air, almost dropping Hinata in the process. When he landed, he turned and faced the Sannin slightly nervous. He expected to see a terrifying face on Tsunade when he finally met her gaze followed by an attempt on his life in the form of a slap, punch, or a 'super noogie', but was instead greeted with a cocky smirk.

"What's with that look _baa-chan_?" He asked with emphasis on his nickname for her.

"Oh, I don't know brat, maybe it's because you have a very embarrassed looking Hyūga heiress in your arms. AND STOP WITH THE 'BAA-CHAN' THING!" Tsunade finished strongly.

Naruto ignored the 'baa-chan thing' comment and looked down to see a now awake, terrified, and obviously embarrassed Hinata fidgeting in his arms.

"Hey, you finally awake?" he asked with a smile.

"Y-yes…" Hinata said nervously.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, confused. After their kiss, Naruto expected Hinata wouldn't be nervous about being around him until they decided, if it ever got to that point, to explore their relationship further.

"N-nothing…" Hinata said, continuing her nervousness.

"Are you embarrassed because we kissed?" Naruto asked bluntly with a hint of concern.

"S-so… that wasn't a d-dream?" Hinata asked nervously, fearing that she had just dreamt it all up, again.

Naruto chuckled and shook his head before he decided to ease her fears in the only way he knew how. He leaned down and gave her lips a quick kiss.

"Does that answer your question, Hinata-chan?" he asked while looking into her eyes with a look that said it all.

Hinata stared into Naruto's cobalt eyes and noticed the look he was giving her was different than before. It was stronger and more defined, as if any confusion he had about the way he felt was gone. She couldn't get enough of those eyes before, she was afraid she'd never be able to stop looking into them now that they held all this passion for her in them. She inched her way forward and captured Naruto's lips in her own, passionate declaration of love for the blonde ninja.

*** CLICK * * FLASH ***

Naruto and Hinata were snapped out of their moment by two flashes and looked up to see Tsunade and Shizune taking pictures of their private moment.

"OI! Don't take pictures! That's so embarrassing!" Naruto said as he gently set the now crimson-faced Hinata down on the ground in an attempt to get rid of the photographic evidence.

"Lighten up, brat! This will be a great picture for your wedding day. Or as blackmail, whichever comes first." Tsunade said with a smirk.

"Sorry, but that was too cute to resist Naruto!" Shizune said with a smile as she looked over to Hinata and decided to tease her a little, "Be sure to take care of my otouto, ok Hinata-san?"

"T-take care of him?" Hinata stammered with a blush.

Tsunade decided to take Shizune's teasing one step further, "Yeah, you know, be sure to be a good wife to my Naruto-chan. If you need any advice on how to please him, me and Shizune are more than willing to offer my knowledge on the subject to you." She said with a smirk.

"W-wife? P-p-please him?" with that final bit of stuttering, Hinata literally fell into unconsciousness once again.

"Hinata-chan! Look what you guys did!" Naruto said as he tried in vain to wake the sleeping heiress.

"Oh she'll be fine, just set her on the couch and let her rest. Shizune bring the girl a damp towel and a glass of water for when she wakes up, please." Tsunade said as she made her way into her office, "Now, get in here before I have to drag you in here."

Naruto quickly picked up Hinata and set her gently on the couch. He gave her a quick peck on the lips, which was once again met with the flash of a camera and a grinning Tsunade.

"Would you stop that?" Naruto yelled embarrassed.

"Nope," Tsunade said simply as she sat down at her desk.

Shizune returned with the damp towel and glass of water, placing the towel on Hinata's forehead and the glass of water on the table next to her before leaving the room to leave the three of them alone.

"Now then, onto business." Tsunade said as she picked up a file on her desk.

"What's this all about Tsunade baa-chan? What's so urgent that you had to send Yamato-taicho to scare the crap out of Hinata and I while we were hanging out?" Naruto said in a frustrated tone.

"Che, more like making out." Tsunade said with a chuckle.

"We weren't making out!" Naruto yelled as he turned around to hide his crimson blush.

"Yeah, whatever." Tsunade said lightly before switching to a more serious tone. "Naruto, I'm not going to lie to you about this, Konoha will take action against Sasuke and the Akatsuki. There are some doubts in the other hidden villages that we are aiding the Akatsuki because Sasuke is a part of them. To keep our village and the world safe, we must officially declare Sasuke a traitor to Konoha and make him an S-class missing nin." Tsunade informed the young blonde of her intentions.

Naruto simply nodded in response, surprising the Sannin.

"That's it? No protesting? No yelling?" Tsunade asked in confusion.

"No, I agree with you. Sasuke is a traitor and should be treated as one. I understand if we didn't declare him an international threat, the other hidden villages would no longer trust us, which could lead to our defeat and the deaths of a lot of people." Naruto said, surprising Tsunade once again.

"Ok…well now that you're on board with that, I'd like for you to meet some people. Come in, please." Tsunade directed her attention to the door.

Naruto turned to see three Kumo shinobi walk through the door into the Hokage's office. The first, an attractive kunoichi, had fair skin, straight blonde hair, and blue eyes. She wore a grey low-cut top with a mesh undershirt that barely covered her sizable breasts, a skirt that went about a third of the way down her thighs, a modified Kumo flack jacket that covered her stomach, and a tantō strapped to her lower back. The look on her face was serious but respectful in its' demeanor.

The next shinobi to enter was a dark skinned, red haired, golden-eyed kunoichi. She wore a long grey dress with short sleeves, purple stockings, a Kumo flack jacket, a white bandana with a Kumo forehead protector to hold back her hair, and a long sword on her back. She was extremely flat chested, the complete opposite of her busty commander. Though she Naruto found her face to be attractive, the look on her face said she was extremely angry for whatever reason and Naruto didn't like the look she was giving him. It looked as though she was about to attack him at any moment, though he had no idea why as he'd never met her before.

The final person to enter was a dark skinned shinobi with white, spiky hair and black eyes. He wore a grey, long sleeved, hooded shirt with a Kumo flack jacket, black pants, and a black bandana with a Kumo forehead protector. He had red bandages wrapped around his wrists and forearms, as well as his shins and carried a sword on his back. He had a lollipop in his mouth and his facial expression displayed that he was deep in thought, though about what Naruto didn't know. He thought maybe he was another genius like Shikamaru, but maybe not so lazy in his behaviors or appearance. When all three were in the room, the blonde haired kunoichi spoke.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." She bowed slightly to Tsunade. Her tone was extremely respectful.

"Think nothing of it," Tsunade said with a wave of her hand, "Naruto, these ninja are from Kumogakure no Sato and are guests in Konoha for the next few days before they return to their village. We are providing them with all the information we have on Sasuke and the Akatsuki as a show of good faith and cooperation in the effort of defeating them and restoring peace to the world."

"Oh?" Naruto said questioningly. "I thought Kumo hated us."

"On the contrary," the blonde haired kunoichi spoke again, "Though we may hold certain…grudges, Kumo respects Konoha greatly. We are just cautious of any nation or faction that could pose a potential threat to the safety of our village. You should understand this very well after what happened here only months ago, Naruto Uzumaki-san."

Naruto stared at the Kumo kunoichi for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I understand that very well…um…I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"My apologies, Uzumaki-san. I am Samui, this is Omoi," the male shinobi nodded, "and Karui," the red haired kunoichi nodded. "We hope you will assist us in defeating these fugitives."

"Of course, I'll help however I can. However," Naruto shifted his tone slightly, "leave Sasuke Uchiha to me."

"What?" Karui exploded, grabbing Naruto by the collar of his jacket. "You've gotta be kidding me! Why the hell would we leave that criminal to a dumbass like you?"

"Because, I'm the one who let him get away. I'm going to fix my mistake once and for all." Naruto replied simply, looking into the fiery kunoichi's eyes.

"What do you mean you let him get away?" Karui asked, still angry.

"I was on the team to try to bring him back to Konoha. I fought him at the Shūmatsu no Tani (Valley of the End). I could've beaten him, but I couldn't bring myself to kill him back then. I pulled my final attack at the last second and was defeated. But it won't happen again." Naruto said with a determined look in his eyes.

"You bastard! I should kick your ass from letting him get away like that! That guy attacked Killer Bee-sama and took him away! We don't know where he is! He could be alive or dead! If you had just done your job, this wouldn't have happened!" Karui pulled her arm back to punch Naruto in the face.

Naruto did nothing to block the attack; he just closed his eyes and waited for contact. He thought he deserved it. But he was surprised when a fist didn't connect with his face. He opened his eyes to see Hinata straddling Karui on the floor, with a kunai in her hand pressing it against the red haired kunoichi's neck. Karui was shocked that she failed to sense the young Hyūga's movements and killing intent at all while the other two Kumo ninja were too stunned by the raven-haired kunoichi's speed.

"How did you—?" Karui began to ask before she was interrupted.

"No one hurts my Naruto-kun!" Hinata said in a protective voice, activating her Byakugan. "Back down, or there will be consequences," she pressed the kunai slightly harder, drawing a drop of blood from the kunoichi's neck.

"Ah, what will we do if she kills Karui? Will we attack the girl and risk war with Konoha? But what if I fall in love with a kunoichi while we're here? I wouldn't be able to help in the invasion…" Omoi began saying increasingly unlikely scenarios for the outcome of the current circumstances the shinobi were currently in.

_O…k…maybe he's not a genius…_ Naruto though to himself as he listened to Omoi's scenario.

Samui stood silently, watching the events unfold while pondering the strength of both Naruto and this mysterious Hyūga girl.

"ENOUGH!" Tsunade bellowed, scaring everyone in the room. "Hinata, while I understand your protectiveness of Naruto, please refrain from threatening foreign diplomats, ninja or otherwise, in my office."

Hinata disengaged her Byakugan, lowered her kunai, and stepped away from Karui. "Yes, Hokage-sama. I apologize for my behavior," she bowed to Tsunade before turning to the Kumo ninja's and bowing as well. "I apologize."

"No apologies are required, my subordinate was out of line," she said giving a look to Karui, who bowed and mumbled a quick apology to the Hyūga heiress before returning to her team.

"Karui was it? It would be best not to assault the hero who just saved Konoha from complete destruction, anger the heiress to the Hyūga clan, and anger the Hokage all at once, wouldn't you say?" Tsunade said as she raised her killing intent enough to send the message to the Kumo kunoichi.

Karui turned to look at Naruto, eyeing him up and down, "You're the guy that defeated the leader of the Akatsuki?"

"Yeah, more or less. I had a little help from some allies." Naruto said, referencing Hinata and everyone else who fought one of the paths of Pein, as well as the Kyūbi. "What of it?"

"Che, a dumbass like you could never compare to Bee-sama or Yugito Nii-sama in any way." Karui said degradingly.

"Who are these people you keep comparing me to? You don't know anything about me!" Naruto asked annoyed.

"Killer Bee-sama is the brother of the Yondaime Raikage, A-sama, and the Jinchuriki of the Hachibi no Kyogyū (Eight-tailed Giant Ox)." Tsunade began, "Yugito Nii-sama was the Jinchuriki of the Nibi no Bakeneko (Two-tailed Monster Cat), before she was captured by the Akatsuki and killed during the extraction of the Nibi."

After a moment of thought, Naruto asked with his trademark foxy grin, "So I don't compare to them in any way, even though you've never seen or heard of me before?"

"That's right, you're nothing but a dumbass wannabe who probably got lucky when you fought the leader of the Akatsuki." Karui said, assured she was right.

"Wanna make a bet on that?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

Tsunade and Hinata looked at Naruto with a confused look. Neither knew what was going on inside the mind of the number one unpredictable ninja in Konoha, but he had to be pretty confident about whatever it was.

"What do you mean?" Karui asked, confused.

"If I can prove to you that I'm equal to the Bee guy and the Cat chick—" Naruto was interrupted before he could finish.

"That's Killer Bee-sama and Yugito Nii-sama!" Karui said angrily.

"Whatever! Anyway, if I win, you let Konoha handle Sasuke's capture. Of course, you can assist in the operation, but I will be the one to take on Sasuke first. After that, if I lose against Sasuke, you can have at him." Naruto said with a smirk.

"And if I win?" Karui asked confidently.

"Kumo will take responsibility of capturing Sasuke, with Konoha's assistance in the overall operation against him and the Akatsuki." Naruto said, retaining his smirk.

After a moment of thought, Karui responded, "Deal. But all I can do is report to Raikage-sama about the conditions, it's up to him if he wants to honor the deal or not." Karui stuck out her hand.

"Fine by me." Naruto said as he shook her hand.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said in a worried tone.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I got this. Trust me." He smiled and planted a kiss on Hinata's cheek, much to her embarrassment, before walking over to Tsunade's desk.

"What's the challenge?" Karui asked, impatiently.

Naruto handed Karui a scroll that he took off Tsunade's desk, which caused the slug Sannin to smirk knowing full well what was contained within it.

"What's this?" Karui asked.

"A scroll." Naruto said sarcastically, trying to make the red headed kunoichi mad.

"I know that dumbass! Why are you handing me this?" Karui asked, annoyed.

"So you can read it, why else would I hand you a scroll? And people call me stupid." Naruto asked sarcastically once again.

Karui opened the scroll and began reading, even though she wanted to kill the blonde haired bastard that was insulting her. As she read however, he face paled slightly and she looked up at the blonde haired shinobi with wide eyes.

"N-no way! I don't believe it!" she said as she threw the scroll on the ground.

"What was it? Maybe it's a marriage proposal? No, he has a girlfriend who's way hotter and has much bigger breasts than yours so it can't be that…" Omoi thought out loud, confusing the Konoha shinobi.

"No, dumbass!" Karui said as she hit Omoi over the head.

Samui picked up the scroll and began to read it. After a few minutes, she rolled it back up and handed it back to Naruto, who promptly returned it to Tsunade's desk.

"Well? What did it say?" Omoi asked.

"It held some pretty cool information on the Bijū's approximate chakra levels, as discerned by Jiraya the Toad Sage. The Kyūbi no Yoko (Nine-tailed Demon Fox), which is contained within Naruto Uzumaki-sama here, is much stronger than the Nibi or the Hachibi in Yugito-sama and Bee-sama." Samui explained plainly, neither of her students noticing the change in the horrific she used for Naruto.

"Oh? I wonder how much stronger he is than me right now? Maybe he's so strong that if he'd punch the ground the Earth would change directions and—" Omoi thought out loud again.

"SHUT UP!" Karui said, slapping Omoi on the back of the head.

"That's not all." Samui said, ignoring her subordinates' antics. "It also had some pretty cool details as to the parentage of Uzumaki-sama. It appears as though he's the son of Konoha's Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze."

"Konoha's Yellow Flash?" Omoi asked as he looked at Naruto. "Maybe he's just a look-a-like? Or a long lost cousin? Or a clone? Or—?"

"I don't believe it!" Kamui said angrily. "A worthless looking dumbass like you can't be the son of such a powerful ninja!"

"You don't have to believe it, but it's the truth." Naruto looked at Samui. "Can we expect your full cooperation?"

Samui looked at Naruto for a moment before responding, "Yeah. You have our cooperation. That was pretty cool of you."

"You don't actually believe this shit?" Karui asked, fuming mad.

"It's authentic," Samui said simply.

"So what? That doesn't mean that we have to hand over the rights to finding Sasuke to them!" Karui said, not understanding what Samui was doing.

"Yes, it does. You said Uzumaki-sama couldn't compare to Killer Bee-sama or Yugito Nii-sama _in any way._ But Uzumaki-sama is the son of a Hokage, meaning he is _at least_ on the same level politically and militarily as Killer Bee-sama. And given time and the proper training, he will far surpass Bee-sama and Yugito-sama in strength. Therefore, you've lost this bet because you didn't think about what the bet was really about." Samui explained.

"I gotta hand it to you, brat. That was pretty smart, for you at least." Tsunade said with a teasing smirk.

"That was brilliant Naruto-kun!" Hinata said with a small smile, "I think Shikamaru would be proud of that one!"

Naruto chuckled and kissed Hinata lightly before responding, "I don't know about that, but I thought it was pretty good. But at least my gambling is better than yours Tsunade baa-chan."

"Why you little—!" Tsunade began before remembering who was in her office.

Karui turned and looked at Naruto, who currently had a very smug look on his face, and began to get very agitated for being tricked so easily. "You bastard! You tricked me! I thought you meant we were gonna fight us or at least power up or something to prove your strength! Not make me read your family tree and a power levels chart!"

"Well, it's your problem that you didn't think of all the options before we made the bet. I never said I was going to fight, I just said I would prove I'm equal to one of those people that you were praising. My sensei always taught me to expect the unexpected, maybe you should do the same before you make a deal like that." Naruto said matter-of-factly before turning to Samui, "By the way, please, just call me Naruto."

"As you wish, Naruto-sama." Samui said with a small smirk.

"I meant just Naruto, but whatever you feel comfortable with I guess. Now, what do you wanna know about Sasuke and the Akatsuki? I'll help however I can." Naruto asked seriously. He would help Konoha's newest allies in any way he could to help prevent as much death as possible as the shinobi world scrambled to battle the forces who threatened the peace of the world.

End Ch 7

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><p>Well, there's chapter 7. Hope everyone liked it. No promises when the next chapter will be up, but expect it to be up by the weekend. Don't forget to review and let me know what you think!<p>

A/N: Just thought I'd add that with this chapter, the story has passed 25,000 words! Very excited about this. And it's not even close to being over, shooting for well over 400,000 words before everything is said and done.

Until next time,

CBM-1701


	8. A New Journey Starts!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the later than expected update. I was more busy than I expected to be last week. But here's chapter 8 for you guys! It's the longest chapter to date just to let everyone know. Hope you all like it! Please read and review!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!**

**Key:**

"Speech"

**"Kyūbi and other large beings"**

_Thought_

"Normal Speech _Emphasis on a word _Normal Speech_"_

A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, please go easy on me. I'll accept any friendly advice you're willing to give to help make this story better. Thanks in advance!

**WARNING: THIS FANFIC IS RATED M FOR A REASON! THERE WILL BE BLOOD, GUTS, SEXUAL CONTENT (including eventual lemons), ETC. So don't get mad at me if you don't like that stuff because YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

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><p>For the next few hours, Naruto relayed everything he knew about Sasuke, the Akatsuki, and Madara Uchiha to the Kumo nin. Naruto spoke of the ninjutsu and taijutsu that Sasuke used during their fight at the Shūmatsu no Tani (Valley of the End), but reminded them how long ago their battle was and that he definitely learned new jutsu since he joined with Orochimaru and, more recently, the true leader of the Akatsuki, Madara Uchiha. He told him what little he knew about the Sharingan, but mentioned that he didn't know much and that Kakashi would be a better person to ask about the specifics or ways to avoid falling under its' control. Upon hearing this, Samui asked if it was possible to speak with Kakashi to ask him more about the topic, to which Tsunade responded that she would send word for him to come to her office.<p>

Upon arriving, Kakashi was slightly surprised to see the Kumo nin inside, but soon shrugged it off and cooperated with their request of telling them as much as he could about the Sharingan. He backed up everything Naruto had said about the Sharingan's ability's as well as adding a few things Naruto forgot. He also mentioned the likelihood that Sasuke had already unlocked the Mangekyō Sharingan, either sometime before or since the defeat of his brother, and to beware of its' abilities.

"Would you mind telling us what kind of abilities the Mangekyō Sharingan has that the normal version does not?" Samui asked of Kakashi.

"I can't." Kakashi responded lazily.

"What?" Karui stood quickly, slamming her hands on the table. "Why the hell not?"

"I would be more than happy to tell you if I knew which abilities Sasuke inherited." Kakashi explained.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Karui asked in confusion.

"The Mangekyō Sharingan has several abilities that Sasuke could have. Each user of the Mangekyō has a different set of abilities that they, for lack of a better phrase, 'start off with'. The others can be learned through training, of course. Given his connection to Itachi, however, I can make a guess that he knows either the Tsukuyomi or the Amaterasu, or possibly both. Of course, it could be neither as well. We have listed all traits of the known abilities of the Mangekyō in the files we have provided to you." Kakashi explained.

"So what you're saying is, there's no way to know for sure." Samui stated.

Kakashi nodded, "That's exactly what I'm saying. It's impossible to know for sure, especially since he's now with Madara."

"That's bullshit! What help are you?" Karui asked angrily. "Other than the jutsu that he knew three years ago, we know nothing about this prick. We could have gotten this information from the Chunin exams of that year!"

"That's true," Kakashi simply said.

"And what's with your attitude? That prick was your student, you bastard! Along with that blonde haired prick over there and the other squad member, you're responsible for letting him get away!" Karui yelled furiously.

A burst of chakra and killing intent caused Karui to lose her balance slightly, causing her to end up on her knees on the floor. She turned her attention to where she felt the surge of power, and found herself looking at a very pissed off Tsunade.

"I'll remind you once more where you are, girl. This is Konoha, not Kumo. You are in MY village, not YOURS. You will show my ninja better respect than you do your own comrades. Make no mistake, this is the last time I will warn you to hold your tongue when you're in my presence. Do I make myself clear?" Tsunade said, allowing her chakra to flare slightly at the end for added effect.

"Y-yes ma'am. I'm s-sorry." Karui bowed in apology, fearing the Hokage's wrath.

"Good," Tsunade lowered her chakra before continuing. "Now, let us continue. Is there anything else you can add about Sasuke or the Akatsuki, Kakashi?"

"No," Kakashi said with a sigh, knowing all too well his role in raising Sasuke and his subsequent failure to prevent Sasuke from traveling the path of revenge. Had he done a better job, Sasuke may have never left. Or had he paid more attention to Naruto and his training, maybe he would have beaten Sasuke and brought him back. Either way, he knew he was at least partially responsible for Sasuke's defection and betrayal from Konoha as well as all the crimes he committed with Orochimaru and Madara.

"Very well, you may leave if you wish Kakashi." Tsunade told the silver haired Jonin, knowing what was on his mind.

"If it's all the same, Hokage-sama, I'd like to stay." Kakashi said, repressing his feelings of failure for the time being. Now was not the time to sulk, but a time to correct those mistakes.

"Very well. Naruto, is there anything you'd like to add?" Tsunade asked the young blonde.

"Not really, I've said everything that I know. However, I'd like to ask one thing." Naruto said, focusing his attention on Samui.

"I'll answer as best I can." Samui responded.

"Does the Bee guy, um…Killer Bee right?" He waited for Samui's nod. "Does he have his Bijū under control completely?"

"More or less," Samui confirmed.

"If we found him, would he be able and willing to teach me to control the Kyūbi better?" Naruto asked, surprising everyone in the room. Tsunade herself had wanted to ask the very same question, but Naruto had beat her too it, much to her own surprise.

"He could teach you, but I don't know that he would," at Naruto's confused look, she continued. "You'd probably have to prove yourself to him in some way. But he's a little…eccentric, so there's no telling how that might be accomplished."

"Eccentric how? In case you haven't noticed, Naruto here is very eccentric." Tsunade teased the young Genin lightly.

"Killer Bee-sama cannot be described with simple words alone." Karui said in a praising tone, placing her hands on her hips in a cocky stance.

"He raps." Omoi said simply, causing Karui's stance to falter.

"Don't say it so simply, dumbass!" Karui said as she whacked Omoi over the head.

"He raps?" Tsunade asked, confused.

"Pretty much every time he speaks." Samui said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"…" Everyone was silent as they tried to understand why he raps when he speaks.

"Well whatever," Naruto finally spoke. "This guy is the only person left who can teach me to control Kyūbi-teme completely, and in order for that to happen he needs to be found. Baa-chan, I request a to be on the team that helps locate the Bee guy."

"Killer Bee-sama!" Karui said once again in annoyance, but held her tongue otherwise.

"Whatever!" Naruto said, not caring.

After a moment of thought, Tsunade gave her decision. "Alright, you can be on the team, brat. Kakashi," she turned to the silver haired Jonin, "You will be the team leader for this mission. Take your team to find the Raikage's brother and accompany him back to Kumo when you do. Samui-san," she turned to the blonde haired Kumo kunoichi, "I trust you and your team will be willing to offer your assistance to locating your leader's brother?"

"You don't even need to ask." Karui said with a smirk, which Samui nodded her approval.

"Good, I'll inform the Raikage of this joint mission. I'm sure he will approve." Tsunade responded with a smirk of her own. "I will send word for Team Gai to meet you there as well."

"Eleven shinobi, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked, slightly surprised.

"Not quite," Tsunade began. "Pakkun will be assisting in this mission as the fourth member of Samui's team. You will need his nose for tracking any scents of Killer Bee-sama that you can find. Neji's eyes will also be of great use."

"I understand." Kakashi nodded.

"You have until the tomorrow morning to prepare for the mission. Do what you wish until then. Meet at the main gate at 0500 hours with gear for a long mission. Any questions?" Tsunade asked. Receiving no answer, "I will provide your team a place to stay for the night as well as any additional supplies that you and your team may need for the mission, Samui. Please wait here while I have Shizune bring you a key for the apartment you will be staying in. Everyone else, dismissed!"

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Samui bowed.

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><p>Naruto, Hinata, and Kakashi left the Hokage's office, sparing a nod for the Kumo nin as they left. Kakashi sighed as they exited the tower, unintentionally gaining the attention of the two shinobi next to him.<p>

"You're not letting what that Kumo chick said get to you, are you Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked knowingly.

"Maybe a little…" Kakashi admitted, slightly depressed. "But don't worry, I'm fine.

"Good." Naruto spared a smile for his sensei.

"Now then," Kakashi said as he turned to leave. "I'm sure you and Hinata would like some time alone. Don't stay out too late; we have to get up early tomorrow morning if we want to get to the gate by 0500. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't be late."

"You're the last person I want to hear that from Kakashi-sensei." Naruto teased, earning a giggle from the Hyūga heiress next to him.

"Oi, oi…" Kakashi said, knowing fully about his tendency to be late for everything. But he knew that tomorrow he couldn't afford to be late. He spared a wave for the two ninja before heading off to his apartment to prepare for the mission to find Naruto's possible turned to Hinata to ask her what she wanted to do for the rest of the night, but stopped when he saw her with a slightly sad and worried look on her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Naruto asked in a concerned voice.

"I…I don't want you to go!" she threw her arms around Naruto's neck, pulling him close. "I don't want you to leave me here! I want to go with you!"

"I know you do, but this mission is going to be dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt. You'll be safer here." Naruto explained.

"B-but…what about you?" Hinata asked. She was afraid of losing Naruto now that they were closer to each other than she ever thought possible.

"Me? I'll be fine. I'll have Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, and everyone else with me. Even though I don't really like that Karui chick, I can tell she's a strong kunoichi and will do anything to find the Bee guy." Naruto tried to reassure Hinata.

"Still…" Hinata wasn't convinced.

"Hinata-chan, I understand where you're coming from, trust me. But you have to believe me when I say I will be fine. You trust in my ninja abilities don't you?" Naruto lifted Hinata's chin so he could look into her saw pure confidence in himself and his abilities as she gazed into Naruto's cobalt blue eyes. She trusted his abilities and in his will to live more than anything else. But she would still feel better if she were with him.

"I trust you, more than anything Naruto-kun. But I would still feel better if I was going with you. Do you think Tsunade-sama would let me—?" Hinata was interrupted before she could finish.

"I'm sorry Hinata, but I can't allow you to go with Naruto." Tsunade said as she approached Naruto and Hinata.

"But why not Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Because, you have a different mission to do." Tsunade explained.

"A different mission?" Hinata asked, confused.

"Yes, you and your team mates will be accompanying me to the Kage Summit." Tsunade elaborated.

"What?" Hinata asked, surprised at the mission she was being assigned to. "But why us?"

"Because your team's sensory and tracking skills will come in handy for detecting any threats to the meeting. The Kazekage and his team should be arriving within a couple of days to accompany us to the Summit. With your two teams and those of the other Kage, any threat should be easily dealt with." Tsunade explained her reasoning.

"But…" Hinata wasn't convinced she could handle the pressure of such an important mission.

"Hinata-chan," Naruto began. Once Hinata turned to look at him, he continued, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You have to do this. This is a mission that needs your eyes and your abilities. You have to help protect baa-chan and Gaara for me."

Hinata was still unconvinced at letting Naruto go without her to find his potential master. But she knew after one look into Naruto's eyes that the love of her life was placing his trust in her to protect Tsunade in his place, and she wasn't about to let him down.

"Ok, I'll do it." Hinata said as she wiped away the tears before looking up at Naruto with a confident look. "I'll protect Tsunade-sama in your place and make you and everyone else in Konoha proud!"

"I'm counting on it." Naruto smiled at the lavender-eyed beauty in front of him.

"Now that we're all on the same page, I'll leave you two alone. But before I go, I have to take care of one thing…" she rolled up her sleeve and whacked Naruto on the top of the head. "STOP CALLING ME BAA-CHAN!" Tsunade proceeded to roll her sleeve back down before smiling at Hinata and turning to leave.

After nursing the bump on Naruto's head, the two shinobi made their way to Ichiraku's for dinner. Naruto didn't know when he would be back from his mission to find the 'Bee guy', so he decided to eat as much ramen as he could before he left.

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><p>Naruto lifted the canvas out of the way for Hinata before taking his usual seat at Ichiraku's, with Hinata sitting to his left. Hinata ordered a bowl of miso ramen and Naruto ordered miso ramen with pork and told Teuchi to keep the ramen coming until he said to stop. Ten bowls later, Naruto finished eating and sat with a fully satisfied stomach and an astonished Hyūga heiress who was left pondering where he fit that much food in his slim frame. Naruto pulled out his wallet and paid for the ramen that he and Hinata ate, prompting Teuchi and Ayame to ask the question on both of their minds.<p>

"So, Naruto. We've been seeing you and Hinata hanging around with each other a lot more often then I remember you two hanging out when you were younger. So I've been wondering…are you two a couple?" Ayame spoke for both her and her father.

Hinata tensed and blushed brightly at the question asked by the young chef. She had been wondering the same thing ever since their latest encounter on top of the Hokage monument, though she didn't have the courage, or the time, to bring it up herself. She sat quietly, waiting for the blonde to answer the question on everyone's mind.

Naruto noticed Hinata's tenseness at the question Ayame asked him and decided to mess around with the Hyūga heiress a little. "You'd have to ask Hinata-chan about that one."

Hinata once again tensed. "W-well…w-we've been spending a lot more t-time together lately. And we just recently…k-kissed…I-I don't know if that constitutes—." Hinata tried in vain to stutter a response but was interrupted by a high-pitched squeal from the young chef.

"You kissed! That's so cute!" Ayame said excited. "Was it good?"

Hinata just blushed and nodded at the question, completely embarrassed that she revealed that she and Naruto had shared a kiss.

Ayame saw how embarrassed was at her questions and decided to get one more jab in before she backed off. "Was there any tongue?"

Hinata turned bright red at the question and fought to maintain consciousness, "T-t-tongue?"

"Yeah you know, did you French kiss him?" Ayame asked with a mischievous smirk.

Hinata shook her head vigorously, partly to deny the question and partly to get the blood to flow out of her head.

Naruto chuckled at Hinata's embarrassment over their kiss, but decided to end her suffering. "I think that's enough teasing Ayame. I have to leave for a mission tomorrow and I don't know how long it will take until I can come back. I want as much time as possible with Hinata-chan before I leave. But if she passes out because of embarrassment it won't be as long."

"Alright, I'll stop teasing. But seriously, are you two a couple?" Ayame asked.

Naruto gazed at Hinata with a look that pretty much said it all. "Not officially."

"Does that mean—?" Ayame began to ask.

"But I think I can change that." He continued, gaining Hinata's attention once again.

"Naruto-kun…?" Hinata asked eagerly.

"Hinata-chan…" Naruto began. "I've been thinking about everything that's happened and I think I finally understand how I feel for you. Spending time with you and getting to know you in these past few months since you told me how you felt about me has been so much fun…more fun than I could have ever imagined. I enjoyed every second of our time together, and I want to thank you for spending so much time with me despite your busy training schedule with your dad, your sister, and Neji. You once told me that you feel the way you do about me because I inspire you to improve, to keep going no matter what. You told me that you want to be by my side always, no matter what. You told me that you weren't afraid to die if it meant protecting me…because you loved me."

Ayame and Teuchi watched Naruto's heart-felt confession from behind the counter, with a bag of popcorn (that appeared out of pretty much nowhere) in hand, silently rooting for the young Hyūga.

Hinata's heart was beating so fast that she was worried she would have a heart attack. She could hardly contain herself as she silently and nervously awaited the rest of Naruto's words.

"Now it's time for me to say the same to you." Naruto continued. "I'm sorry it took so long to say it back, but I hope you understood that I needed this time to finally understand why I exploded like I did when Pein almost killed you after you confessed. Now I can finally and honestly say…" Naruto smiled with the most caring look on his face, "…I love you too, Hinata-chan."

Ayame squealed loudly at Naruto's heartfelt confession to the young Hyūga heiress, causing both of the young ninja to become extremely embarrassed, but they ignored it as best as they could.

Hinata couldn't believe that this wasn't a dream. Naruto had just said what she had been waiting for him to say for so many years. Not too long ago, Hinata was unsure that she would ever hear those words from Naruto. Only two months ago, she fully expected to die at the hands of Pein while protecting Naruto. But here she was, staring into the piercing blue eyes of the man she loved as he responded positively to her declaration of love that she had fully expected to go unanswered. The tears that she had been holding back since he began speaking finally began to fall from her pale lavender eyes onto her now rosy cheeks.

"Oh, Naruto-kun…" she said as she tried to regain her composure. "Do you mean it, all of it?"

Naruto placed his hand on her cheek and stroked it lovingly, wiping away her tears. "Of course I do. I meant every word of it, from the bottom of my heart. I had to tell you before I left just in case I don't come back…"

"Oh, Naruto-kun!" Hinata wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him close to her. "Don't say such things, you will be back! You just have to come back!"

"You're right, I will be back." Naruto accepted her hug and pulled them closer together before whispering, "Hinata-chan, will you be my girlfriend?"

Hinata stared wide-eyed at Naruto before she responded by kissing Naruto passionately on the lips, surprising the young shinobi. After a moment she responded, "YES! Of course I will!" before returning to his lips once again.

The new couple was so distracted by their passionate kiss that they failed to notice Ayame and Teuchi were now busy snapping as many pictures as they could of this romantic moment between their favorite blonde haired customer and the raven-haired heiress.

After a few moments, Naruto finally noticed the clicks and flashes of the cameras going off around him and instantly became embarrassed. He soon decided that he didn't care about the pictures; he was more focused on the lovely Hyūga in his arms. He was happier than he had been in a long time, and he never wanted the moment to end. But the thought of leaving in the morning soon came to him, and he decided that it was time to go back to his favorite spot for a little more reluctantly broke the kiss, much to Hinata's displeasure, and turned to the ramen chefs, who quickly hid their cameras, before speaking.

"Well, it's been a fun night guys but I think it's time for me and Hinata-chan to get out of here. Make sure to have lots of ramen ready for me when I come back! Later!"

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><p>Naruto took off for the Hokage monument with Hinata in his arms. When they reached the monument a few minutes later, Naruto once again bounded to the top in two jumps and set his new girlfriend down on her feet. Before Naruto could say anything, Hinata tackled her new boyfriend to the ground in a passionate embrace. Naruto was pleasantly surprised to find himself on the ground with Hinata kissing him fiercely while she lay on top of him. He soon grabbed Hinata's waist and rolled her over so that he was on top of her, causing her to yelp and giggle happily as he kissed her back. The two playfully fought for a few moments for dominance before settling into a rhythm of loving kisses.<p>

As the new couple's kisses became more and more passionate, Hinata thought back to Ayame's question about French kissing and found herself wondering how it would feel having her tongue in Naruto's mouth and his in hers. She blushed and mentally shook her head at how embarrassing that thought was. Of course it was something that Hinata dreamed of doing with Naruto, she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Naruto after all. She knew it would happen eventually, but she was unsure if she could do something so bold only a few hours after her very first intimate kiss of her entire life. She decided she was content with the kiss the two were sharing at the moment, more out of fear of moving too quickly than anything else, but hoped that the two of them would share a deeper kiss sometime soon.

She quickly remembered how little time she had with Naruto before she wouldn't see him again for who knows how long. The thought of that made her sad, but also determined to give Naruto a goodbye present that he wouldn't soon forget. She decided to take command and she once again rolled herself on top of Naruto and pulled away slightly from the love of her life, much to his disappointment. She looked down into his eyes and smiled brightly at her boyfriend.

"Naruto-kun, I love you so much," she said before she closed the gap once again, placing a small kiss on his lips, licking his bottom lip lightly as she retreated slightly. She waited for Naruto to open his mouth to reply before making contact once again, but this time plunged her tongue into his mouth and began exploring the inside of Naruto's mouth for the first time.

Naruto was shocked, to say the least, when he felt Hinata's tongue against his own inside of his mouth. The shock soon wore off as he got used to the new sensation. Soon he moved his own tongue into her mouth and began to once again battle her for dominance, flipping himself on top of her once again. He increased the depth of the kiss as he explored every corner of her mouth, taking care to remember the spots that caused the heiress to moan lightly as he went. He soon broke the kiss to look into the eyes of the woman he loved and smiled softly and lovingly down at her, which she returned with equal affection.

"I love you too, Hinata-chan," he managed to get out before Hinata pulled him back down to her lips for more.

The two continued to switch places for several minutes before collapsing from exhaustion and lack of oxygen. They lay in a comfortable silence, holding each other close with Hinata's head resting on top of Naruto's chest and their legs tangled together, both sporting small, happy smiles on their faces as they rested. Though the two would have been more than happy to continue their passionate kissing, they were just as happy holding each other close and looking out onto the village. Naruto and Hinata both knew it would be the last time Naruto would see the village from atop the monument in a long time. So for the rest of their time together, they simply looked out at the lights of the village and at the stars in the sky.

Far too quickly it was time for Naruto to head home so that he could get enough sleep to wake up and get to the main gate on time. He scooped up Hinata in his arms and raced towards the Hyūga estate. When they reached the estate, Naruto placed Hinata on her feet and stared into her pale lavender eye that he would not see again for who knows how long. He soon wrapped his arms around her neck, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. The two held each other in a loving embrace for several minutes, both shedding tears of sadness at the time that was to be spent apart from one another. The couple shared one last deep kiss filled with passion before Naruto reluctantly pulled away.

"I'll miss you Naruto-kun." Hinata said with tears in her eyes. "Please be safe and come back to me safe and sound. I love you so much."

"I'll miss you too, Hinata-chan." Naruto said, also with tears in his eyes. "I'll come back to you no matter what, I promise. Be safe on your mission as well; protect baa-chan and Gaara for me. I love you too, more than anything."

Hinata nodded, "I promise I will."

Naruto gave Hinata one last hug and kiss before departing in a burst of speed. He was worried if he stayed any longer, he wouldn't be able to leave her. So he raced for his home, leaving his worried girlfriend standing outside her home with a sad look on her face.

Hinata believed in Naruto and knew that he would keep his promise to her no matter what, he always did. But she couldn't help but worry for the love of her life. She only hoped that the next time she would see him he would be alive and stronger than ever so that he could end this conflict once and for all.

_Please come back to me safely, my Naruto-kun._ She thought as she turned to enter her estate._  
><em>

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><p>The next morning at 0500, Naruto stood at the gate with Team Gai, the Kumo nin with Pakkun, and the rest of Team Kakashi. He looked back towards the village one last time as if he had heard Hinata's final thoughts before she entered her estate. As the group turned to leave, Naruto smiled sadly and responded to the faint call to return home to his love.<p>

"I will be back, Hinata-chan. I promise." He said in a whisper, before turning back to the gate and leaving Konoha for his mission to find the man who had the ability to teach Naruto to control powerful chakra of the Kyūbi completely so he could confront those who threatened the safety of the world and those he loved and cherished more than life itself. He had a new reason to get stronger and he would do anything within his power to keep her safe from harm.

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><p>Well, there's chapter 8! I hope everyone liked it. I'd just like to remind really fast that this is a fanfic, so it's not going to be the same as the anime and manga. So no getting mad at me if something isn't exactly the same as the manga and anime. I will be trying my best to keep the characters correct thought. Killer Bee's rapping is going to cause me some problems I'm sure. I'm very bad at rhyming. But oh well! Be sure to review this chapter and let me know what you think! It's the only way I know if it was good or not after all!<p>

Until next time,

CBM-1701


	9. Chaos

Hey guys and gals, sorry for the extremely long delay. A lot of stuff has been happening over the past year that prevented me from writing, but now I should have more time to write (hopefully). I had some personal issues that have resulted in a change of my career aspirations and as a result life was pretty hectic for a while.

Part of the problem was also severe writers block, but I'm starting to get my inspiration back so hopefully I'll be able to get back to a chapter every couple of weeks or so (no promises).

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the manga or anime! They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto! If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic!**

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><p>Key:<p>

"Speech"

**"Kyūbi and other large beings"**

_Thought_

"Normal Speech _Emphasis on a word _Normal Speech_"_

**A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, please go easy on me. I'll accept any friendly advice you're willing to give to help make this story better. Thanks in advance!**

**WARNING: THIS FANFIC IS RATED M FOR A REASON! THERE WILL BE BLOOD, GUTS, SEXUAL CONTENT (including eventual lemons), ETC. So don't get mad at me if you don't like that stuff because YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

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><p><strong>Ch 9 Chaos<strong>

To say that Hinata was having a bad day would be an understatement.

_Why me?_The young heiress thought, both agitated and nervous at the same time.

She quickly dodged to her left in order to avoid the fireball that had been hurdling towards her. She landed in a crouch before quickly recovering and taking the traditional Hyūga stance, albeit a bit gingerly. The young Hyūga mentally cataloged the list of injuries she had acquired in her struggle with her opponent.

"You cannot win, Hyūga," her opponent gloated arrogantly, "I am far superior to you, always have been, always will be. Now, tell me where your boyfriend is and maybe I'll let you live!"

The heiress glared at her opponent before responding, "I would never betray Naruto-kun! I will stop you now so that you will never hurt him or our village again!" She grimaced as her ankle throbbed when she hardened her stance.

Although Hinata spoke confidently enough, in truth she was terrified. She had a sprained right ankle and two fractured ribs, not to mention all the scrapes and bruises. She scanned the area for allies, hoping for some assistance. Unfortunately, nearly all of them were currently engaged in battle and the rest were out of commission. She was on her own for the time being. She began to wonder how she would escape this predicament with her life.

"Then you will die!" a stream of fire erupted from the perpetrators' mouth, heading straight for Hinata.

_Not good!_Hinata thought as she quickly tried to dodge again. The stream of fire continued its' pursuit, however, following the heiress wherever she ran. She managed to avoid corners thanks to her Byakugan, but she wouldn't be able to run for much longer with her sprained ankle. Her opponent, however, had received very little damage from her and still had plenty of chakra left.

Hinata dodged once again as fireball collided with the wall in front of her. This time she was forced to roll in order to protect her damaged ankle.

She once again turned to face her opponent, and glared at him as she once again thought, _How am I going to get out of this?_She stood up and defiantly fell into the Gentle Fist stance.

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><p><strong><em>-2 Hours Ago-<em>**

Hinata stood behind Tsunade, listening intently to the Kages' …discussion… about how the war would be handled. However the …negotiations… were not going anywhere fast.

Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro arrived in Konoha three days after Naruto's departure. After resting for the night, the group left the village for the meeting, discussing possible outcomes for the alliance's political and military hierarchy. They had arrived in Tetsu no Kuni (Land of Iron) two days later, after spending the night in a village near the border of Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire). And that was the last time they had experienced any form of peace.

She sighed as the Kage continued to voice their complaints and arguments to one another; decades of past wars and resentment were clearly causing their present problems. How she wished she could speak her mind and tell them if they didn't come up with a plan, there would be no world to save anymore. After all, she knew the dangers of the Akatsuki firsthand.

And Pein hadn't even been the strongest of the Akatsuki. The true mastermind behind the evil organization, Madara Uchiha, had used Pein in order to further his own agenda. Whatever his true agenda was, however, had yet to be made known. Strategists and genius' from around the elemental nations had been working for weeks trying to piece together what Madara's war was really about, but they were no closer to the answer now than when they first asked the question.

The Hyūga heiress sighed once again as the Raikage, Ē, slammed his hands on the table in front of him and voiced his disapproval with something Tsunade had said. Konoha and Kumo had a long history of bad relations, dating back before Hinata was born. Kumo had been the ones behind the kidnapping attempt that eventually resulted in the death of her uncle and Neji's father, Hizashi. Hinata had long since moved on from the painful memories of that time in her life, as had most of the shinobi in Konoha. Unfortunately, it seemed Ē was proving to be as stubborn as his reputation.

In addition to the grudges between nations and the stress caused by the threat of a new Great Ninja War, there had been no word from Naruto and their search/rescue party in nearly two and a half weeks, which worried everyone. The last message they received was delivered by one of Naruto's toad summons. The message was written by Kakashi and stated they were following a lead that placed them in a chain of islands in the sea bordering Kaminari no Kuni (Land of Lightning) and that everything was going relatively smoothly. Unfortunately, this did little to calm the stubborn Raikage.

"This is going nowhere, Ē," Tsuande shouted in annoyance, "How are we supposed to form an alliance if you shoot down every idea the rest of us have?"

"Simple," the Raikage replied angrily, "I make the ideas and you follow them!"

Tsunade shook her head in disbelief, "That's not going to happen and you know it! You might be the most fit to lead the alliance, but you cannot disregard every proposition we have! I will not allow you to lead my people into battle without some sort of compromise! I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, am I?!" Tsunade turned to the rest of the Kage and Mifune, the leader of Tetsu no Kuni (Land of Iron) in hopes of some back up.

Hinata sighed heavier this time, as it was at least the third time this argument had been made since the meeting began. She was beginning to think the alliance was going to fail miserably. She, along with everyone else in the room, knew the alliance was _crucial_in the effort to stop Madara's plan.

"Ladies, gentlemen," Mifune interrupted, "I think that it might be time to take a short break to cool our heads. Let us meet again in one hour to continue the discussions."

_Thank Kami-sama, _Hinata thought to herself as she and Tsunade exited the chamber alongside Gaara and Temari. The group made their way to an area just outside the meeting room and sat down at a table. Tsunade and Gaara exchanged a look that pretty much said it all.

"This is not going the way it should be going," Tsunade said, rubbing her temples trying to calm down.

"No, it's not," Gaara said, folding his arms across his chest. Gaara was usually very calm, but even Hinata could tell he was stressed.

"Let's not talk about it now, I need a break and a drink," the Hokage declared as she summoned a bottle of sake out of a scroll and poured herself a cup. "If only we had some information on Naruto, that would might help sway the Raikage to be more agreeable."

"Indeed," Gaara agreed with a small nod.

The group chatted for nearly a half hour, enjoying each other's company while eating their respective lunches.

"You worried about your new boyfriend, Hinata?" Temari asked with a slight smirk. Soon after her siblings and her had entered Konoha, the blonde had immediately asked the heiress if the rumors she had been hearing were true, much to Hinata's embarrassment. And unfortunately, Temari continuously assaulted with embarrassing questions and suggestive implications that caused the bluenette to blush and faint on a regular basis. One of the questions Temari asked was so suggestive it caused the heiress to have a nosebleed Jiraiya would have been proud of.

"H-hai, but I believe in him," Hinata blushed and smiled.

"That's good at least," Temari stated simply before changing gears, "What's it like? Having a boyfriend I mean."

"I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life, b-but it's also stressful knowing the dangers that follow him," the heiress confirmed.

"Madara you mean," Temari frowned.

Hinata nodded in response before continuing, "Hai, but that's why I've been training. I know Naruto-kun can protect himself, but I just can't stand by and watch Naruto-kun fight alone."

"I understand," Temari smiled at Hinata's determination,

"A-ano…is there someone you're interested in, Temari-san?" Hinata asked out of curiosity, which caught the attention of both Gaara and Tsunade.

"_What_? Don't be ridiculous," Temari said, sporting a light blush, "There's no way I could fall for that lazy—!" She covered her mouth, but unfortunately it was too late.

"You like Shikamaru-kun!" Hinata said with a small smile.

"N-no I don't," Temari tried to deny her feelings, but to no avail.

"Don't be ashamed, Temari-san. Shikamaru-kun is a very nice person," Hinata urged the blonde to accept her feelings.

"There's _nothing_ to be ashamed about because _I don't like him_," Temari said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Tsunade watched the scene with mild amusement, while Gaara wondered if he needed to have a word with the young Nara the next time they met.

"Whatever you say, Temari-san," Hinata decided to drop it for now. Temari, however, had different plans. She pulled Hinata away from the table to avoid any further embarrassment.

"_Suppose_ I did have feelings for someone, and I'm _not_ saying that I do, how should I go about telling him?" Temari whispered to Hinata.

"Be honest and just s-say it," Hinata smiled. "Telling Naruto-kun how I felt was the best decision that I have ever made."

Temari didn't look very convinced, "But the situation is completely different."

"Not when you think about our profession," Hinata explained, "We're ninja, we could die at any time. Wouldn't it be better to know how you and Shikamaru-kun felt about each other in case something happened to one of you?"

Temari thought about it for a moment before nodding, "I guess you're right about that. But telling him is harder than it—HEY! I _never_ said I like Shikamaru!"

Hinata smiled at Temari's obvious denial, "Whatever you say, Temari-san."

"Grrr...," Temari blushed as the Hyūga smiled at her.

"Hokage-sama," a familiar voice interrupted the two kunoichi. The pair turned to see none other than Shikamaru walking towards Tsunade and Gaara.

Hinata turned back to Temari and gave her a knowing look, a look that Temari returned with a slight glare that was partially ruined by the blush she currently had on her face.

"Don't…say…_anything_!" Temari threatened as she turned to walk back towards the table.

"Oh, I would _never_," Hinata said with a small smirk as she followed the blonde back to the table to hear what Shikamaru had to say.

"Shikamaru, I assume we finally received word from Kakashi?" Tsunade asked in an obvious tone as she too gave the Temari a knowing look.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru said as he handed the note to Tsunade. "We received this two days ago, it was troublesome to get it here so quickly though."

"Thank you for your effort," the Hokage said as she opened the scroll and began to read it.

A few moments passed as Tsunade read the scroll, which caused Hinata to begin to worry slightly that something bad had happened. Soon enough, however, the Hokage spoke.

"It seems the mission was a success," Tsunade smiled at the young heiress, "They have located Killer Bee and have begun Naruto's training to control the Kyūbi. We should inform the Raikage immediately."

Hinata sighed in relief at the information that her beloved was alive and preparing to become stronger than ever before. _Thank Kami-sama_.

The group walked back into the chamber to find Ē already back in his seat waiting for the meeting to resume. Tsunade approached the Raikage with the scroll in hand and placed it directly in front of him on the table.

"What is _this_?" the Raikage asked, slightly annoyed.

"The joint Konoha/Kumo team found your brother, the information is in this scroll," Tsunade said simply.

Ē's eyes widened as he quickly opened the scroll and read its contents. After a few moments he set the scroll down and sighed in relief. "Thank Kami-sama he's alright."

Tsunade nodded and began to walk away before the Raikage spoke to her.

"Thank you for helping me find my brother," he said simply, but sincerely. It was clear to everyone in the room how much he cared about his brother.

"You're welcome," Tsunade smiled in return.

"Also," he continued, "I am sorry about my behavior. I was so hell-bent on finding my brother I let my mind become clouded. I will _try_ to work better with you, with all of you." He said as he looked up.

Tsunade turned to see the rest of the world's leaders had re-entered the room as well. They silently nodded and retook their seats, hoping they would finally be able to come to an agreement about the alliance.

* * *

><p>For the next half hour, the leaders of the soon-to-be alliance continued to debate how the alliance would be organized. The talks where much more civil and eventually the job was nearing its' completion. All that remained was the signing of the document that would cement the creation of the alliance. The leaders signed one by one, starting with Tsunade and ending with Mifune. After everyone had signed, the leaders shook hands and declared the creation Allied Shinobi Forces.<p>

Hinata sighed once again, this time in relief, as it seemed everything had resolved itself, her Naruto once again coming to save the day, though he probably didn't know it. And as the group turned to leave the chamber, everyone felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that the formation of the ASF had been successful.

Unfortunately for them, the feeling wouldn't last much longer.

**_**CRASH**_**

The group turned back towards the chamber where the sound originated and were stunned to see none other than Madara Uchiha standing on the table they had just been seated at.

"What, leaving so soon?" he asked menacingly, "Oh, but you can't leave yet! The fun is just about to begin!"

Suddenly, several dozen white Zetsu crashed through the ceiling just above the chamber and began their assault on the compound.

Mifune sounded the alarm, alerting his samurai to the infiltration of their nation. Soon after, he drew his katana and charged at the enemy. The shinobi followed suit and began attacking the infiltrators with deadly force. "Attack!"

Hinata wasted little time and joined the excitement, activating her Byakugan as she charged forward. She killed two Zetsu with two simultaneous strikes to the heart before ducking and sliding her leg out, sweeping the Zetsu that had attacked her from behind off its feet before quickly finishing it off with a strike to the head.

She then stood and called out, "Jūho Shōshike (Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fist)!" before rushing towards a group of five Zetsu with her fists ablaze with the twin chakra lions. She quickly eliminated the first two with simultaneous strikes to their abdomens, killing them as she continued to charge towards the next, who she decapitated with a single swing of her right fist. The last two charged towards her, intent on stopping her.

Hinata deactivated her jutsu to conserve energy; instead deciding simple Jūken (Gentle Fist) would do the job just fine. She assumed her stance and waited for the Zetsu to get closer before unleashing a Hakke Kūshō (Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm), killing one by breaking its neck and stunning the other. While the other Zetsu was stunned, Hinata rushed forward and struck her adversary in the heart, killing it instantly.

Madara had watched the heiress fight the Zetsu with mild interest and had to admit he was impressed with the young Hyūga's transformation. Prior to her fight with Nagato's Deva Path (Yahiko), reports indicated she was meek, timid, and weak compared to many of the other ninja her age. However, it seemed that since then much had changed. This had the Uchiha wondering what had changed the heiress in such a short amount of time.

Madara approached Hinata as she turned to face him, dropping into a defensive stance.

"Very impressive, Hyūga-san," Madara complimented, clapping his hands mockingly, "You have become strong in such a short amount of time. Tell me, what has changed since your encounter with Nagato?"

_Nagato? _Hinata thought before responding, "I don't know who you're talking about."

"Oh, my mistake," Madara began, "You probably don't know him by that name. What has changed since your encounter with _Pein_?" He clarified.

Hinata hardened her stance and flared her chakra slightly, gathering chakra for another Jūho Shōshike, the lions larger and glowing brighter than they previously were.

She responded to the Uchiha's question with one word, "Everything," before she rushed forward with the intent of stopping the man who wished to harm her beloved Naruto.

"Oh?" Madara said as he dodged the fierce strikes of the Hyūga with little effort, making himself intangible any time she came close to hitting him, but never returning her strikes.

For nearly two minutes Hinata continued to strike at the Uchiha, never once drawing a hit. Soon, she was beginning to tire, her chakra reserves fading fast. She jumped backwards, separating herself from Madara in order to give herself time to recover. Maybe she could distract him in order to gain enough time to recover, even slightly.

"Why do you want the Jinchuriki? What do you want with Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked keeping her fighting stance in case her opponent attacked.

"All in due time, my dear," Madara responded, taking no fighting stance, "You fight well, but you are not nearly strong enough to challenge me by yourself. How about fighting someone a little closer to your level?"

Hinata wasn't sure what the Uchiha meant by that, but figured she would find out soon enough.

A vortex began to slowly spiral out of Madara's eye, revealing a man with a white, high collar shirt, blue pants, and jet-black hair.

_No, it can't be…_Hinata thought, nervously.

The man raised his head and focused his gaze on Hinata revealing his Sharingan to the heiress, confirming her fears.

"Sasuke-kun."

* * *

><p><strong>End Chapter 9<strong>

* * *

><p>Sorry for the shorter than usual chapter and cliffhanger after this inexcusably long wait, but this felt like the best place to end this chapter.<p>

I feel as though Ē's personality is a little off, but I haven't really been able to get it right in a long time so I just figured it was close enough. Being as this is a fanfic, I have a little creative freedom, but i want most of the characters personalities to be as close as possible to their personalities in the anime/manga. Maybe someone can give me a tip on how to portray him better?

I'd like to apologize again for taking so long to write this chapter, a lot has been going on in my life in the past year so it was tough for me to get the inspiration needed to keep writing. But hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this story more frequently now that everything has settled down a little.

I'd also like to thank everyone who stuck with me despite the long delay in this story. Please continue to follow my story as it moves closer towards the end (which is probably still a ways off).

Anyways, please _**review**_ and let me know what you think! I will try to update more frequently, but it will probably only be once a month.

Until next time guys and gals,

CBM-1701


	10. AUTHOR UPDATE 5172013

AUTHOR'S NOTE 5/17/13:

Hello everyone! I know you probably all hate me at this point for not updating again in so long. But I am alive and almost ready to start writing again.

Some of you may know something about the reasons why I stopped writing, but for those who don't allow me to explain.

About a year and a half ago, I changed my career path substantially. I switched colleges and changed my whole life around. But the change meant that I had to work twice, if not three times as hard as I was before. That's all going to change soon.

I am graduating next month from The Art Institute of California (I won't say which campus for privacy reasons) from the Culinary Arts program. It's been a really long year and a half, but everything is finally coming together and soon it'll be all over, until I go back to school in October for a Management/Business degree.

I just wanted to update everyone on the situation and let everyone know that in about three weeks, I will be able to start writing again more. I hope to finish the story by the end of this summer if I have time to. I'd like to start writing some other stories as well, but I'm going to focus on this one primarily.

Anyway guys and gals, I just wanted to let you all know what's been going on. Expect a new chapter within a month, hopefully sooner.

Until then,

CBM-1701

PS: I will delete this chapter and repost with the next chapter when it is done.


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